#23 Gods Power In Me

(420) Gods Power in You - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_w0i-bLtJY

Transcript: (00:03) welcome to this week's crowd church service we are a digital Church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps us live a more meaningful life we are a community a space to explore the Christian faith and a place where you can contribute and grow I want to invite you to connect with us here at crowd church and there are a few ways that you can do just that firstly you can engage with Crow from any device during our live stream and if you're up for it why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together you see church is all about connecting with God and connecting with (00:45) others and one of the easiest ways for you to do that is to also Join one of our midweek groups where we meet online together to catch up and discover more about the amazingness of Christ you can also subscribe to our podcast called what's the story where we Deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people more information about all of these things that I've mentioned can be found on our website at www.c crow. (01:20) or you can reach us uh on social media at crowd church if you're new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know what your next steps to take are well why not head over to our website crowd. church sln next for more [Music] details and now the moment you've been waiting for is here our online church service starts right now wow good evening and welcome to crowd online Church my name is Matt Edmonson and I've just realized all my Tak is not set up as as it should be but anyway a war welcome to you uh great that you're here I am hosting with the beautiful set up ban on I'm G have to (02:10) click there you go say how's it hi hello hey it's a very wideangle shot we've got of you today but that's okay that's okay that's how it works right so uh yeah I don't know why it's gone funny but it has it's we've just recorded haven't we two podcasts and it was all fine it was all fine and then I think we just got a little bit complacent is what I think happened but that's okay um and I've just noticed that look it says dan orange oh oh we're going on today yeah I'm not Dan orange for those of you watching on the widescreen version I'm not Dan orange my name is (02:48) Matt Edon has he got your correct name for you yes it has very good what's going on today um you're still in podcast mode aren you it's podcast but when still podcast yeah what is going on to say so we have a talk from Anna Kettle all about Matt this is your queue uh the power of God in Me so she's looking at God in Me part two Christ in me which we looked at part one last week yeah yeah uh and which was great actually because not because I did the talk I just want to point that out yeah yeah no no no it was it was it was good a good topic it was a good topic I really (03:37) enjoyed that no so we in all seriousness we looked at Christ in me started looking at that last week we are in a teaching series uh talking about wholeness what does it mean to be a whole person uh and we've been looking at this whole area of spiritual health and so last week we looked at uh who Christ is in me uh my hope of glory and all that sort of stuff so which was great uh so yeah we're we're carrying that on today right mhm do you know yeah you sure yeah which is good so we've got the wonderful Anna Kettle who is sharing uh the talk this week which would be great what's going to happen is we are going (04:14) to play the talk if this is your first time with us by the way very warm welcome to you um we are going to play the Talk uh from Anna where she can talk about this then we're going to come back for conversation Street conversation Street yes indeed well timed well so we're going to come back for conversation Street and in conversation Street uh SF and I are going to chat about uh what was said in Anna's talk talk about it what it means for us how it applies to us we're going to go through if you if you're watching on the live stream do join in with the comments (04:45) do say hi let us know where you're watching from ask any questions you've got from today's talk in the comments we'd love to hear from you um and we'll get into all of those after the talk right yep are you sure yep positive it's because normally you're behind the camera you're not normally in front of it that is true for crowd yes yeah so it's a it's a special today it's like you're a special guest oh thank you yeah welcome it's great to have you it's great to have you always enjoy hosting crowd with setup so before we get into the talk let me give you a few notices (05:22) about what is coming up on crowd because this is is this the last July it is talk it is yeah mhm you know that for sure for sure okay so I'm asking s because she plans everything right so this is the last live stream in July which means the not rocket science the next live stream is in August uh but what tends to happen in August uh which we've done for the last couple years at least yeah two three years yeah yeah um crowd the crowd team takes August off it's like our sabatical month so rather than not do anything because I don't know that just (06:00) feels a bit wrong really still do Church in the holidays yeah still got to do church church is cool you still want to do Church um so what we do instead is we do something called non live live [Laughter] stream hey you're picking up on all the cues today this is awesome well done that's right we do the non live live stream now what this means is um we still do the talk what we don't do is the conversation street so you don't have like today there setf and I sat in a studio bringing crowd online Church to you we don't do that bit uh we play the Talk which you can watch and actually (06:38) the talks in August are about um they're on different Psalms so we have four different Psalms [Music] Psalms how do you say it Psalms Psalms yeah so we have four different people speaking on four different Psalms yes we do so we're going to get into the Psalms people are going to be talking about their favorite songs who have we got speakers was we have Dan Rogers we have Dan orange we have Ellie light and the Josh Edmonson the Josh Edmonson I know that because he recorded it last night yes that but I'm not sure if that's the (07:17) order so if you're banking on that please don't yeah please don't bank so that's what's coming up in August right so it's an on live live stream we're going to do all of that in August so uh do stay with us do join us just Jo join in those talks then in September we'll be back in the studio um for at least September there's some big changes coming in October um there are some big changes which I can't tell you about just yet because mainly we've not finalized them uh and so the team and I are meeting on Tuesday (07:51) looking at you yes you are yeah okay so we're meeting on Tuesday to finalize some of the stuff that's coming up we will tell you about it as soon as we can it is really really exciting stuff we're super super excited by it um so yeah hopefully more news on that but we'll be back again in September doing the the live streams from the studio uh for the church service so is there any anything else to say on that no is that all clear as mud clear as mud okay well as long as I've made it as clear as that's the main thing so without further Ado like I said we've (08:21) got the beautiful Anna Kettle sharing with us today she is talking like I say about the power of God in us and working through us um Anna is an absolute Legend she's part of the team here at crowd so you know you're going to have a good time with Anna she brings some really interesting angles on what Bible the Bible has to say and how it helps us in today's world so we are going to get into that then s and I will be back for conversation Street after this don't go anywhere make sure you get involved in the comments I'm going to dig jump in uh while the Talk's going on so I will see (08:51) you in there and then we'll be back all right as have I said everything you have well done okay uh as we're doing so well here's Anna hi there so this talk is called the power that works in me and it's part of our identity series um so the first point I wanted to make at right at the outset of this talk is that Christianity is all about God living in US God's presence his holy spirit um living inside of us as Believers and how God really desires to make us his d place um I wanted to start by looking at (09:33) the scripture that goes with this talk which is from Ephesians 3 I'll just read it out to you because it's a good starting point for what we're going to talk about today it's part of Paul's prayer for the Ephesian church that he's working with at the time and it says this um in Ephesians 3 from verse 14 onwards it says for this reason I kneel before the father from whom every family in heaven and on Earth derives its name I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you and power you through his spirit in your innermost being so that Christ May dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you (10:12) being rooted and established in love may have power together with all of the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you might be filled to the measure with all the fullness of God now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than we can ask or even imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever amen wow now that is a pretty deep prayer isn't it it's got a lot in there (10:53) and it talks a lot about God's power at work inside of us as Believers his power at work within us um his presence living within in Us and how it's able to do infinitely more than we could ask or imagine you know it's an interesting idea and in some ways it's quite in um conflict with what our society would tell us which is that actually the way to get on in life the way to succeed is through self-reliance that you can't really rely on anyone else you know you need to be self-reliant and and many people live this way and believe this these days (11:31) they believe that they have to handle all their own problems take care of themselves look after number one you know just relying on their their own strength and abilities to get them through and so it creates this very driven Society where we work harder we do more hours we earn more money we push harder we push other people harder um almost the point of breaking pointing you can see that in mental health today that we push and push ourselves and one another to achieve more and to be more and to do better and it's all based on (12:03) this kind of idea of self-reliance you know and this mindset can so easily lead to burnout and frustration and all kinds of mental health challenges for people and because at some point that desire to overcome challenges and to be better and to do better is going to exceed all of our capacities like we only can do what we can do we're only human um and that kind of Independence that idea of leaning on your own personal strength and trusting your own resilience to get you through to get you know to be enough to fix everything you know that that in itself is not a bad thing it's good to (12:41) have resilience it's good to um you know to be independent but it can only take us so far you know and sometimes the truth is that all of us get to a Breaking Point get to the end of ourselves um even the most talented most gifted individuals get to the end of themselves and sometimes we all need a power that is greater than ourselves sometimes we all need God's power at working us to produce the changes that we want to see either in ourselves so that power to change ourselves from within and to change the world around us (13:14) to make life better so we're talking about God's power in Us and how that can transform us well how does that look in practice because I don't think it always looks the way you might imagine you know often we think of power as bre strength and force you know sometimes it looks a bit like sheer bloody mindedness you know just that that Sheer Drive that will to succeed but actually when the Bible talks about God's power within us it's not necessarily describing that kind of human thinking in terms of power often (13:46) the Bible teaches us that God's strength in us actually looks very different to what we understand power to be like as as humans you know often that power of God in us actually looks like accepting or in limitations and weaknesses and there's a great example of this um again in the book of two Corinthians again it's it's some of the writings of Paul um and this time he's writing to the Corinthian Church and he's talking about his own situation so he's talking about a Thor in the flesh and how he has this (14:19) Thor in his flesh as he describes it um we don't know exactly what that is scripture doesn't tell us in the passage you know we know that when he's writing this um he's been imprisoned for his faith by the Roman Empire and he's being held there against his will for his faith um but we don't know exactly what that thorn in his flesh that he describes is it could be a physical illness or disability it could be more of an emotional thing we don't know but what we do know is there's a clear problem or weakness that he's dealing with and Paul can't fix it for himself (14:53) and he's repeatedly asked um God to remove it for him it says that he's pleaded with the Lord three times to take get away um and yet God doesn't so that's an interesting thing and you know there's other parts of scripture as well that we know about where it says that God is very able to heal both on physical and or emotional problems um for example Psalm 103:3 says he forgives all your iniquities he heals all your diseases and Psalm 147:3 says he heals the broken Harden hearted and binds up their wounds so that there's (15:31) plenty of passages in scripture like that lots of other verses that are similar that say that God is able to heal God has described as the Healer in many parts of scripture and yet in this case he chooses not to heal Paul or not in that physical way that he wanted him to I wonder if you've ever had any situations where you've asked God to heal or fix something for you and it seems like he isn't doing that or he doesn't do it you know and do you ever want wonder why that is you know why doesn't God show his power through Paul (16:03) in this way in terms of taking that flesh that thorn out of his flesh whatever that Thor was why doesn't God do that for him and why doesn't he sometimes answer our prayers for healing you know that might be physical healing for yourself or for somebody that you love why doesn't God do that you know it's a really valid question and it's a question I've asked many times when I've prayed for healings for myself for other people and that's not necessarily happened certainly not in the the time scale or the way that I wanted to see it (16:31) happen anyway but you know maybe in those times God is actually wanting to reveal his power to us in a different way in our lives because In this passage too God says to Paul my grace is sufficient for you my power is made perfect in weakness my power is made perfect in weakness what does that mean because it's so counter counterintuitive to our thinking really you know for power to be made perfect in our weakness you know to me that describes Paul having to accept his weakness and rely and use it to rely (17:06) on God's strength in the midst of a difficult thing to understand that God's power is able to equip him for everything he needs in his life sometimes I think God's power in our weakness can look a lot can look can look like healing or fixing a problem for us you know take a problems of God we ask him to fix it and sometimes he will do that but often it can also look like him doing something el else sometimes God's power at work in our lives looks like us taking a problem to him and him just giving us that (17:39) supernatural patience or endurance that we might need maybe it's that Comfort or Joy or peace in the middle of a difficult situation or circumstance maybe sometimes it's about giving us that hope for the future even right in the middle of our suffering here and now so sometimes God's power in our weakness doesn't look like an instant fix it can look like him giving us his Supernatural strength to bear with things that we can never bear with or deal with without his help I think there's loads of really good scriptures um across the Bible loads of passages that talk about this (18:15) in more detail and I've pulled out just a couple here so um one is in Isaiah 40 verse 29-31 it says he gives strength to the weary increases the power of the weak and then goes on to say those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength and to me it's a really clear example of when God doesn't just fix it for us you know he the Lord It's not that following the Lord means that we'll never get tired or weary it's it's not that we're super human and that we get to kind of avoid all the human limitations that we live with it's rather that we feel those things we feel tied and weary but he (18:54) renews our strength he renews our energy in those moments when we call on him and ask him for help and in 1 John 4:4 there's another example of this a slightly different one it says you dear children are from God and have over and have overcome them meaning your enemies because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world so again it's this idea not that we won't face problems or opposition or enemies but that God comes alongside us and he helps us to overcome in those situations you know sometimes S I think people have this idea that you can come to God as a Christian and expect that (19:35) being a Christian that believing in God that trusting in Him sort of somehow supernaturally exempts you from experiencing all of the everyday problems that we all experience as humans that are all part of life here on Earth you know that it's some kind of Supernatural protection against anything going wrong you know but that that is not what Christianity is and it's not what it's about you know in um John 16 verse 33 Jesus is teaching his early followers the disciples and he actually explicitly says to his followers not that they won't face problems following (20:07) him but that they will face problems he says you will have problems of many kinds in this world but don't worry because I have overcome this world and I have given you peace and so again he's saying to them that that peace doesn't come from not having problems it comes from facing those problems knowing that Jesus is with you and that you're not alone in them you know there's probably examples in all of our lives where we already do this and have already done that I I can think of one um in my own life over the last year um where like I (20:40) really knew that God's Supernatural power was at work in me to help me deal with something that I couldn't naturally deal with well so in this instance it was that last year my husband and I lost a baby it wasn't the first baby that we lost um but we we sadly lost a baby last summer and it was obviously a really sad time shortly after it happened you know we were grieving that loss we were disappointed but I remember chatting to a friend soon after it happened just a couple of weeks after it happened and (21:11) she had been through baby losses herself in the past twoo and I remember her very clearly saying to me that I just seemed like I was really at peace with the situation even though obviously the situation wasn't the situation that we were hoping for and you know it was true I remember when she said it I thought huh yeah I do feel like peace even though this isn't a situation I would have chosen and it wasn't that I wasn't grieving or feeling sad because those really natural and normal human healthy responses to loss you know we all feel sad in the face of loss we all feel (21:45) grief so it's not about denying or being able to supernaturally jump over or avoid or navigate our way around those human experiences and feelings those you know parts of our everyday human existence it's not about that it's about um knowing God's presence with us in the middle of it that is really transforming so for me it wasn't about not feeling sad it was about having that deep sense of peace that God was still in control that he still cared about us and that he still had a good feature for my family even though that wasn't going to look exactly how we (22:24) expected and so I could talk about this with other examples but actually I'd really like you to kind of think about it in your own life and just take a moment or two to reflect on maybe some times where life hasn't been easy and there's been challenges for you as well and how even if those challenges haven't been avoidable or God hasn't taken those situations away how might that power of God help you in the middle of it so I wanted to finish um just in reflection going back to that passage that we started with which was from Ephesians 3 that that prayer for the (23:03) Ephesian church that Paul says I want to read that out again and just kind of reflect on it as we as we finish up this short talk so it says it says this for this reason I kneel before the father from whom every family in heaven and on Earth derives that name I pray that out of his glorious riches he might strengthen you and Empower you through the spirit in your inner being so that Christ May dwell in your hearts through faith and I pray that you being rooted and established in love may have power together with all of the Lord's holy people to grasp how wide how long and (23:41) high and deep is the love of Christ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge that you might be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than you could ask or imagine according to his power that is at work within us to him be glory in the church in Christ Jesus so just to summarize then this passage reveals that this boundless power that God operates with but also that that boundless power is available for all believers and this power is not (24:19) just sufficient to get us through our problems to get us through challenges and difficulties but it's exceedingly abundant it surpasses all that we could Poss ask for or imagine isn't that an amazing promise you know and this means that as a believer in Christ you I we're not limited by our own strength and resources and knowledges and means you know all of those things that you know we have some of we have our own resources and knowledge and means but they're finite they're not infinite but in God we have infinite (24:55) access to divine power that can trans form your life and your circumstances and and really give you a supernatural ability to deal with those hard circumstances in life when they come and that in an Essence is what God's power work in US is all about well that was an Abrupt end welcome back man I really need to work on these transitions yeah welcome back welcome back to to the two of us uh have we got and it's got my name right now I can see on the screen M I'm well done so Anna thank you for doing that talk very short (25:34) notice um but she did a great talk uh really really enjoyed that um so uh warm welcome to everyone of you that's mentioned in the comments uh from Nica to Miriam to Andy all of you guys thanks for joining us thanks for being with us here this evening and um yeah we've hopefully got the tech working a little bit better now you got your name right on there so it's always a big start isn't it is my name right so yeah warm welcome back so what did you think to Anna's talk write your uh thoughts down in the comments (26:06) would love to hear from you um but yeah what did you get out of it what did what sure you've got lots of notes I've got lots of notes let's start at the beginning and work our way through all right so one of the first things she talked about was um this idea of self-reliance which is quite um contrary to what Society teaches us so what God what we learn in the Bible um as opposed to what Society teaches us that we need to be able to you know be a a super mom or a super dad or a super human in order to accomplish (26:43) everything and still have time at the end of the day yeah Super Mom Super Dad are you not super mom no I tried it did not work yeah I tried the Super Dad thing and I think I just I've just stuck with the dad thing yeah yeah made a lot more sense yes yes so sorry I interrupted you go ahead no no um so yeah I I think that's um that was a really good um point to draw out especially with the scripture that she she shared at the be the beginning from Ephesians about God's power in us so actually we don't need to be um (27:21) self-reliant we don't need to be trying to do everything on our own or even at least pretending to do everything on our own because yeah just not the way it works in God's economy that's very true it's interesting isn't it there's a I think there's a the kickback here um I think from people is to say well aren't we supposed to be resilient people and I think the answer is yes actually resilience is a good thing the Bible talks a lot about resilience but it uses words like endurance yeah um and same means the same thing in many ways to endure to be resilient but it never talks about resilience (28:01) being a resilient person outside of the grace of God in other words outside of um God's ability in you to do what you don't have the ability to do right which I think is a great definition of Grace if people want to know you know what does grace mean means undeserved favor um you know and I use the example of the Apostle Paul going to God asking for The Thorn In the Flesh to be removed and God said my grace is sufficient for you in other words my ability in you to do what you don't have the ability to do yeah is how I would um term that so I (28:36) think there's a difference between self-reliance and resilience does that make sense yeah yeah would you agree I would agree yeah I think um we can also like from what you were just saying that you know this whole idea of well with God's strength is made perfect in our weakness and actually if we allow that to take place and we stop trying to be self-reliant we realize that we are so we're able to do so much more than we would have had he been left out of the equation yeah yeah and so it like you know when when you quote scripture it feels very um I don't know (29:22) scripture like you know this like this idea somewhere out there but actually if you apply it yeah and you walk in it it's actually lifegiving yeah yeah absolutely it's such a powerful thing isn't it and um Andy's put in the comments we live in a I'm just reading off here sorry uh we live in a self- serving society and I think there's it's an interesting thing when we use the word self so self-reliance self-serving selfish it's all about the self and I think as humans we tend to first and foremost think about ourselves we try and pretend that we don't mhm but we do um and so it is it is one of those where (30:04) self-reliance the the only one I can trust to do it is me it's just easier if I do it myself you know those kind of things um I think makes us hard and can make a cynical especially if you've had um like relationship breakdown uh you know you can go World um like I had a Business Partnership fail so it it made it it meant that I was a little bit more distrusting at a future Business Partnership does that make sense um and so it's easy then to go well I'll just do it myself because I you know it's easier than doing it with somebody else kind of thing and so I think we can (30:45) become hard I think we can become isolated I think that can lead to bitterness when we just focus predominantly on doing it ourselves yeah but sorry equally I think when when you've had a breakdown in relationship or you've had a negative experience there's always learning from it and sometimes it's not just like you go back out there and you just repeat everything you did last time because sometimes actually the fault is in us and we're shortsighted about something and part of the learning is understanding well actually I didn't quite see things through the way I should have yeah right (31:21) yeah yeah I think so yeah I think so I think you're totally right it's an interesting one isn't it this there is this tension between we keep coming back to it and I I don't know how well I do it this tension between self-reliance and resilience um and I think resilience in yourself is a good thing but resilience in God's grace is a better thing and I think resilience in faith is a better thing so I think if resilience is about enduring through adversity but with Faith and Hope I think that's what we saw from the (32:04) example that Anna gave with Paul and The Thorn In the Flesh he kind of he was resilient um and he had faith and he had hope because he has God's grace uh we you know I bless her she shared the story last year of when she lost another baby um it's been heartbreaking for those two and you know I I was I was was heartbroken for them when when we heard the news we' obviously been praying for them just praying for a miracle this time because you know it it was it was something that was important to them and (32:40) you kind of go I know God can in that situation um but for whatever reason there was a miscarriage but the grace on them the resilience on them the faith in them as a couple was actually quite inspiration a MH does that make sense and I think even in the difficult times even in those Hard Times resilience is possible because we can trust in God and have faith in God as opposed to resilience is possible because I know how strong I am as a character yeah does that make sense and I think um it's about where you put (33:21) I know I'm strong I know mentally I'm I'm pretty strong I know physically I'm I'm not the best specimen of the male species I appreciate no laugh with you yeah yeah yeah but i j mean I can have a certain confidence in myself um but I it's easy to think that's all I need yeah yeah right I think there's with what you're saying I think there's an element of wisdom that comes with it right so where do you draw the line between being resilient and relying on on God's power and like so even if you take you know when she was talking I was thinking about the Sabbath day yeah so (34:04) you know the way God the way God did it was he worked and then he rested and that's kind of how we are created we are created to work and we're created to rest and there's wisdom in knowing when to like what those boundaries are and sometimes you can work straight through and burn out yeah or you can have or you can be like okay I'm going to work these days and then I'm going to rest yeah yeah yeah following God's rules tends to work better Miriam just put in the comments you seen that I love you guys so much thank you maram such a legend we (34:34) love you yeah awesome um but yeah I one of the interesting things about so last week we talked about Christ Living in me right what does that mean to as a Christian Christ Living in me and it's quite an interesting Revelation right and so um Paul talks about The Thorn In the Flesh being given to him so he doesn't become conceited because of the greatness to the Revelation that is I mean that's something that we always forget about Paul's Thorn In the Flesh I hear Christians all the time saying I've just got a thorn in the flesh God's (35:04) given me a thorn in the flesh I'm like What's the great Revelations that you've had right that you've got to have this to stop you becoming conceited right because that's what we we see in Paul's life but no one really talks about just cover that bit because it becomes an easy thing just to throw off off the tongue right and so there's again another tension then that we face as Christians I find where there is the acceptance of the fact that Paul had The Thorn In the Flesh and we are going through something more than you I mean we all have our own fights and stuff to deal with um but there's (35:41) this great tension between acceptance and fight does that make sense so um for example Paul does did he just accept I've got this on the flesh there's nothing I can do with it or do I fight to get rid of it because the power of God in Me is more than capable and able to get rid of this SW In the Flesh does that make sense that the power of God in Me what's the Paul said that we would know the exceeding greatness of this power that's both in and for us the same power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead resurrection (36:16) power living in me happy with that right and so why would that power then it would make sense yes it can you know God can through that power but something doesn't seem to be shifting at the moment but at the same time I have to endure I have to have faith so there's there's this real tension between acceptance and fight I don't know if you've ever found that struggle yeah yeah for sure and I think a lot of it means waiting on the Lord and I think that's where the tension grows right because you're just expecting an answer and but you know the Lord sometimes he (36:51) gives you a yes sometimes it's a no sometimes it's waight and um often times it's a maybe isn't it yeah and I think you just and I think that's part of it but I don't know if Anna said this in so many words but that's where you are probably being stretched and grown the most spiritually because of that tension because I think if that tension wasn't there you would forget about it and it wouldn't it wouldn't have the same kind of um Power to push you yeah spiritually yeah does that make sense yeah it does it does and I I think it's a really interesting t tension that we have to fight and we (37:29) have to face um between acceptance and fight just between saying this is the way it is versus the belief and faith in God that things can and possibly will change and I I it's not always like you say you've got to wait on the Lord you've got to find out what God is saying it's interesting with the Apostle Paul like I I I'm not you know diminishing any Christians here myself I probably diminishing myself more than anything is just to go this is my Thor in my flesh this is just the way I am this is just a way it is I now have to accept this right (38:04) um but when you read what Paul did he had The Thorn In the Flesh but the Bible tells us three times he went before God yeah yeah that's not acceptance that's the guy wanting to get rid of it that's persistence and that's that's persistence that's a guy we don't know if he went a fourth time and then that was the time God delivered him yeah we we just don't know yeah but there seemed to be a persistence there seemed to be a patience there seemed to be an endurance there seemed to be a willingness to fight yeah um and to seek God on what he (38:34) was saying in that situation so I do like what you're saying because it is waiting on God God what are you saying here in this situation right is this something that is the way it is or is this something that we need to fight for and change now fight might not be a very politically correct word right now I appreciate that but just the tenacity and not giving up fa faith and beli in God is maybe a better way to put it um yes I think it might be a better way to put it but actually do you know there there's that that story and I'm sure there's there's different versions of it where there's that flood and this (39:15) guy's stuck on a roof and he's like God save me rescue me from the flood and then you know there's a helicopter that comes and he's like no no no God's going to rescue me and then you know different yeah it's kind of like that you kind of just you know abdicate and be like oh I can't do anything I don't have anything in my power that I can do it's all God but actually God's given us um brains yeah and um we have you know we have we have wisdom that he's given us and we need to exercise all of those things um (39:45) but mostly pray and ask ask the Lord what what his will is in all of it yeah I think that's so so important just waiting on God God what are you saying here because that resurrection power lives inside of me resurrection power can change anything that I'm facing anything that I'm going through in an instant um and sometimes the instant happens yeah you know one of the most beautiful words in the Bible I think in the New Testament in the gospels is a word suddenly suddenly you know the woman with the issue of blood (40:15) dried up after 12 years suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon them and you're just like I really like the suddenly I want more s yeah yeah yeah one more just one more of those in life but at the same time um you know there's this great phrase isn't there don't compare your ordinary with someone's extraordinary in other words we read books for example biographies and it's just there's a lot of suddenly going on you know like Heidi Bay suddenly this happened and that happened but you don't read about the three years in between where it was not great or it (40:48) was boring or the mundane happened or they had to do the washing the kids you know had colds one of them got suspended from school whatever it was right um things were happening and things were going on that you don't always read about and I think suddenly is a great word it really is I really like it it's one of my favorite words um because God can do things suddenly and I've seen that and I've experienced that but that same power that works in US goes if there's no suddenly you can still conquer you can still have the victory (41:20) it might not look like what you think it's going to look like but you can still endure and you can still have persistence here because of the grace that's in you right yeah it was um when Anna was talking I was um I was thinking about something which I think you've kind of touched on now as well that actually God's power is in US is available to us all the time yeah not only in times when we're being stretched but all the time and I think if we have that consistent relationship with him day in and day out when the hard times come yeah those are so much easier because we already have that we're (41:55) already used to just going to the Lord and asking asking for help for whatever it is for wisdom and so it just comes so much more naturally and having that peace that passes all understanding um you know experiencing that more often yeah very good very good uh I'm just going to the comments here Andy like the gym setup last week Matt oh yeah did you see last week's live stream no did you not see the gym footage no I thought that was a great example thanks Andy I appreciate that um so just so in case you don't know what Andy's talking about last week I Ed the analogy of a glove okay um in the sense (42:34) that I I showed a glove in my gym okay and I I encouraged the glove to lift up the weights right and the glove did not lift up the weights I told the glove it was amazing and that it was wonderful still didn't do it I put the glove in community by giving it another glove uh still didn't do anything I I showed the glove what to do I demonstr to the glove what it had to do still didn't do anything and so this was the the analogy of me talking about God goding you that actually it wasn't until I put my hand in it that it a bigger life force yes bigger life force um that (43:10) it you know the analogy being clear that as Christians we have a bigger life force and it's not until we allow God to work in us and through US yeah that we really start to fulfill the purpose of our life so that's my analogy from that's what it's talking about it's great everyone's going to go back and watch it now do you know that went that blew up a little bit on any anyway never mind uh is this current theme continuing after the non-live live streams says Andy yes uh we think wow not right away not right away yes no I'm going to stop (43:42) talking Matt's going to do the talking oh I am am I I'm just looking at you uh we've had some conversations around this and and the reason why I'm slightly hesitant in saying yes we will carry on this um topic of wholeness immediately after the non-live live streams is depending on what happens in October that was a thinking wasn't it so um have I got that right yeah good okay so depending on what happens in October more information coming soon genuinely I'm I I appreciate I'm being a bit cryptic um but we've got some really (44:15) exciting changes and updates coming to crowd and so it may be that we pause the whole series for a month in September to give us capacity to launch in October with all the new changes right and so um so by doing that we may do an easier workaround where the talks are concerned we don't know is the honest answer it's 5050 and d uh it it might well be we just go let's just carry on because it just makes an awful lot of sense but there does seem to be a natural break right so if you remember with the holess series we look we're going to look at five areas uh spiritual health Soul Health which which is your (44:58) mental health your um emotional health uh we're going to look at body Health obviously physical what does B say about being physically hell and health healthy healthy um do uh we're going to look at uh relationship health and economic health so I think um we're going to look at what it means to be healthy in each of these five areas which overall gives us a good sense of wholeness right um but to be whole as a person where nothing is missing nothing is broken we started off with spiritual health because that makes the most sense to be (45:36) spiritually healthy and you know to understand the God who lives in you to understand identity the fruits of the spirit all those things that we've looked at over the past how many weeks have we been doing this um since Feb I think so however many weeks that is well it's been a long time do theth I'm going to say 12 15 let's go with that I don't know 20 anymore any more advances on 20 I hear 21 so we we' spent a good long time looking at spiritual health which has been great I've really enjoyed this um (46:08) part of the series so but this what we have done is we've said right let's end the spiritual health part now and we're going to go into August it just worked out that way actually it wasn't even intentional it wasn't intentional just worked out way fine to fine so uh We've We've Ended the spirit spiritual health look this week so this week ends the spiritual health section so when we pick up the series on wholeness when we pick up what that means nothing missing nothing brok us brokus broken I don't know what's happened to my speech today I just I (46:42) just don't know um anyway when we pick that up uh at some point from probably I'm going to say the new year because that makes the most sense in my head so we'll pick it up in the New Year we start with soul Health what does it mean to be mentally well and emotionally whole uh from a Biblical point of view what does a Bible have to say about this is anything what's God's viewpoint on it and what can we learn from that um so if we don't start it in September we'll probably start it in January because I think if we do what we're thinking of (47:16) doing in September which we've not defined yet which is why I'm not I'm not being cryptic we just don't know um uh when we launch the sort of new version of crowd crowd 2.0 in October November time I think it'll be good to do some talks around that which then leads us up to Christmas Christmas dominates everything in the Christian calendar because why would it not um so it may make sense to start in January I don't know it all depends on what sadf wants to do yes power so hopefully that's answered your question Andy and if anyone's listening um I will in September so (47:55) after the non-li live streams in September we will will tell you exactly what is going to be happening in October yes um it makes no difference to any of you guys who join in on the live stream I want to point that out um except for the live stream we think is going to go up a notch in quality and value is that right yes that's the hope and the plan that's the hope and the plan so we really want to add to the live stream so um the one change I think is going to happen that I can tell you about is I think from October the live stream will start at 6:30 or possibly 7 (48:30) so there might be a slight change of timing um I that's the one thing that I'm fairly sure is probably going to happen so again more information coming soon in September so do stay joined if you're not liked or subscribe to crowd church yet uh make sure you do that because we will obviously keep state with any and all changes so Andy hopefully that has answered your question in a very roundabout sort of way yes we are we just don't know when it's going to start I should have just said that yeah you should have that's okay your words are brokest today (49:05) broke my words are brok us yes thanks for Matt oversharing yet again he never does that never no anyway let's get back to Anna anything else on on your little notepad there [Music] um you just take time yeah yeah sorry yeah one of the things she was she challenged everyone with wasn't it like to think about how has God's power helped you in a time of um difficulty so Matt why don't you take that I was just about to ask if I know I know that's why I jumped in there getting with the questions first there it's interesting because I started to write as she asked that I'm like well (49:48) the examples that immediately spring to my mind right uh I've talked about I think before on crowd so 2012 we almost lost the entire company M um with the acts of a supplier that changed our supply policy um it was a horrific time it was a time where we had to let a bunch of people go from the company which I hated um we hared inze literally almost overnight I mean it was all not great um but the one thing that I did do was what you said earlier I waited on the Lord I actually do you know what actually I don't know if I've where did (50:28) I say this the other day the one thing that I did do was I went into a coffee shop which was underneath our office at the time were you with us when we were on Al um so underneath our office at the time was a coffee shop famous High Street Coffee Shop brand which shall remain lamel because I do not want to promote them on this show on this show too too busy podcasting on this live stream I would go in there and I would sit there for three or four hours and and I wrote in effect I wrote a book I wrote a book of The Journey that we been on I wrote in there about the stuff (50:59) that we were going through I didn't necessarily plan on anyone reading it but it was basically a testimony to God's faithfulness throughout the whole thing even though we were going through utter chaos at the time and that really really helped me um and I think it wasn't don't get me wrong it wasn't restored that business never became what it was um after that um it it kind of went down and up a little bit but it never sort of regained where it was um um but in the midst of that I would say I learned more about me and about business than anything else it was such (51:36) a valuable life lesson and actually if we had not gone through that we wouldn't I don't think we'd be set here because I think we would have made very different Life Choices yeah you know what I mean mhm so what about you um yeah I mean there's been challenges um working with me yeah that you know like you know um relationship breakdowns loss um grief all of those things but I think what I um from all of them if I was to put it all together being being at the Lord's feet in it is and yeah being at the Lord's feet and like we were saying waiting on him to kind of show you what's next what's you (52:29) know what does he want to do out of all of this has um I think was transforming for me and also would want to add that um being thankful having a heart of contentment and and gratefulness to the Lord despite all of the the hardships I think has been something that's probably been most um transformative because I think it's we we become far too self going back to what she said at the beginning like we just you know we're too much about ourselves and it's all poor me but actually if you take your eyes off yourself and put them on the Lord everything seems to fall into place whether we understand it or not (53:16) completely doesn't matter yeah but the fact is that if you're looking to him and thanking him for what you do have yeah rather than what you've lost yeah um I think it's much better place to be that is so powerful so true and actually if I'm it's part of the reason not to plug our own stuff but I'm going to plug our own stuff right now it's the you what yes of course why not go for it what am I going to plug um I'm going to just let you take it away CU it could be anything it could be anything we just don't know do we um no I was thinking (53:53) about what's the story as in that podcast um we have I don't know how many episodes we have now we've got a fair few number of episodes um where basically including you come on to the show and talk about some of the hardest times in life that's been faced right the biggest challenges and how God got people through that right so that I mean you talk about stories of resilience you talk about stories of God's grace and sometimes the stories are quite Redemptive as in I lost this but God restored it back to me some of them are this happened to (54:36) me and it changed my life but actually the trajectory I'm now on life is just in a very different place and we become very different people in good ways um some people are still going through the hard times um I'm thinking about the lady whose husband I think Anna did the inter her husband got arrested MH um and falsely accused and two years later was found innocent by a jury but it took two years I mean that's two years of your life just destroyed um but just hearing the sweetness and the the the sort of the love of God in the midst (55:17) of all that is quite is inspiring the genuinely are inspiring stories and so if you haven't done so already I really encourage you to check out the what's the story podcast in fact if you just go to whatsthestory podcast. (55:34) com you'll find the whole podcast there and you can subscribe to that you can listen to the episodes um an know Anna's talked about her child loss you've talked about uh your grief and your relationship breakdown on those so they're all there um go and dig in and find out because they're super super inspiring and um you'll really really enjoy them isn't that right that is absolutely right you should definitely do that we do have some great stories on there and we have some great stories coming up as well oh we do we do oh we do it's a beautiful thing isn't it um so yes uh the boundless power of God the exceeding power of His greatness that is both in (56:12) and for you uh as you believe the same power that he used in Christ when he raised him from the dead that resurrection power lives inside us the Holy Spirit himself the power of God lives and breathes in US and that is part of the revelation of all of this that actually wholeness is about allowing the God in us to live in us to work through us to breathe through us uh and yeah all of that good stuff isn't it and actually the more we do that better off life seems to be the more whole we become uh is the is the bottom line so I'm aware of time so let's just wrap (56:50) this up now uh it is fair to say like I say in August we will be doing the non-live live streams hope you can join us uh do carry on in the comments and all that sort of good stuff it' be great to support the guys that have done the stuff on the Psalms the guys and the gals and then we'll be back in September why are you back in September are you hosting sure we'll find out the reason SF is hosting today is because you wanted to get some podcast recorded isn't it so I helped Matt out Matt helps me out so (57:20) set's like Matt if I host on Sunday can we record some podcast as well oh the joys of working with Christians um so yes that's kind of how we've ended up hosting today but it's been great to chat about this really I get super encouraged by this kind of stuff do you sure yeah what's your key takeaway um you know what I think for me it's a reminder that we need to be walking with the Lord all the time and relying on his power all the time too it's far too easy to just wait for when things get really bad that's so true very very true so (57:56) yeah I hope you enjoyed it I hope you got some stuff out of it enjoy August enjoy your summer if you're going to take some time off or have some vacation time whether it's you know with some friends whether it's just you whether it's with the family whatever that looks like I hope it is super super restful um and that you connect with God through it all if you are new to the Christian faith and would like to know more about this Jesus we talk about we would genuinely love to hear from you just go to the website if I press this button I (58:23) think it's this one here look at that why you it's like magic It's Magic can you say It's Magic in church oh [Laughter] no anyway we would genuinely love to hear from you uh whether you believe in magic or whether you don't um it would be we don't just making that clear it' be great to hear from you if you've got any questions about the Christian faith do reach out to us we've been doing an alpha course which has been I've really enjoyed actually doing this Alpha course the point where I think we'll be starting another one (59:01) fairly soon in the new term or the new semester uh uh I want to say the new year but it's not technically the new year it just feels like a new year because sort of everything sort of restarts again in September new school year new school that's what I knew that was a reason you were here uh so yes uh if you'd like like I said if you'd like to know more if you want to find out more about the alpha course all that sort of stuff do reach out to us let us know and of course if you're watching this and you are a (59:24) Christ follower then why not invite someone along to the alpha course they may be interested in doing it as well we do it online so it' be great to see you there and but have a cracking summer have some really really restful time uh I know I'm going to what are you doing over August um hanging around going away for a week bit of this a bit of that the power of bit of this bit of that that just sounds lovely yeah I'm I'm going to take a couple of weeks at home and then I'm off to Jersey got hang out with some friends in (59:55) Jersey so so yeah so looking forward to this bet just getting on the beach yeah I'm not really a beach person well but well done I hope it's good fun oh bless you all right ladies and gentlemen bless you have a fantastic week have a fantastic month uh we'll see you in the non-live live streams uh but from SF and is there anything else you want to say no okay from SF and from me have a phenomenal summer we'll see you again in September thank you so much for joining us here on crowd church now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit (1:00:32) the Subscribe Button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live and of course if you are listening to the podcast uh the live stream podcast make sure you also hit the follow button Now by Smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform it helps us reach more people with the message that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life so if you haven't done so already be sure to check out our website www.c crow. where you can learn more about us (1:01:13) as a church more about the Christian faith and also how to connect into our church Community it has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome it's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time that's it from us God bless you