The accusation stings because it often contains a grain of truth. We confront the claim that Christians are hypocrites head on, examining where the criticism is fair, where it misses the point, and what it means for anyone trying to live with integrity.
01The Hypocrisy Problem and Why Jesus Got There First
It is one of the most common reasons people give for steering clear of Christianity. "The church is full of hypocrites." And honestly? It is hard to argue. History is littered with people who claimed to follow Jesus while behaving in ways that would make him wince. From the Crusades to modern-day scandals, the gap between what Christians say and what they do has done enormous damage.
But here is the thing that gets overlooked. Jesus had the same complaint. And he was a lot more direct about it than most.
02What Jesus Actually Said About Hypocrites
Sally Burch takes us to Mark chapter 12, where Jesus does not mince his words about the religious leaders of his time. "Beware of the teachers of religious law, for they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk into the marketplaces. And how they love the seats of honour in the synagogues and the head table at banquets. And yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public."
The word "hypocrite" originally meant actor — someone playing a part, presenting a character that is not who they really are. The Pharisees were revered in public, but behind the scenes they were exploiting the most vulnerable people in their community. Jesus saw through the performance and called it exactly what it was.
If your biggest issue with Christianity is hypocrisy, you are not opposing Jesus. You are agreeing with him.
03The Double Standard We All Carry
Sally makes a sharp observation that applies well beyond religious circles. "We judge others by what their actions are — what they say and what they do. But we judge ourselves by our intentions."
That is worth reading twice. When someone else breaks a rule, we see the action and judge them for it. When we break the same rule, we know the reason behind it, and we give ourselves grace.
She illustrates this with a relatable example from lockdown life — parents who told their children not to meet up with friends, but then quietly allowed their own teenager to see one or two people because of mental health concerns. The intention was good. But if someone else did it, the judgement would be swift.
As Graham Marsh put it, "The opposite of hypocrisy is not perfection but authenticity." That distinction matters. Nobody is asking anyone to be perfect. What people are asking for — and rightly so — is honesty about the gap between who we claim to be and who we actually are.
04The Mental Text Message
Sally shares a personal story that lands with uncomfortable accuracy. Someone had hurt a friend of hers badly, and she spent an hour composing a message in her head. "Full of witty comments, emotive language, enough insults to let them know how upset I was, but the perfect combination of examples of how they'd let this person down."
She imagined them receiving it, dropping to their knees, begging for forgiveness, issuing a public apology across all social media. Justice would be served.
And then mid-fantasy, she remembered she was preparing a talk about hypocrisy.
"Life is unfair and unjust. People are fallible and they let us down. And I can either choose to be as bad as them and retaliate, or do the opposite and maybe even try to wish them well."
She pauses after that line and adds, "Ouch. That's tough. And I definitely can't do that without help."
That honesty is exactly what this conversation needs. Not a polished answer about forgiveness, but a real person admitting that the right response is harder than the satisfying one.
05When It Goes Properly Wrong
Sally does not avoid the big examples. She mentions the Crusades — hundreds of thousands killed in what were called holy wars, but were in reality power grabs dressed in religious language. She quotes Gandhi: "I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ."
And she speaks directly to people who have been hurt by someone claiming to represent Jesus. "Maybe you've had a really awful experience with someone who says they're a Christian — someone who claimed to be full of the love of Jesus but actually treated you badly or in a totally unloving way. And I'm so sorry that's happened to you."
That apology is not performative. It sits alongside a clear invitation: do not judge God by what people do in his name. Look at Jesus himself instead. His track record is rather different from many of his followers.
06The Difference Between Failing and Faking
There is a crucial distinction in this conversation that often gets lost. There are people who deliberately use God's name to manipulate, control, and exploit others. Jesus condemned them. They are the actors, the performers, the ones wearing the mask on purpose.
And then there are people who genuinely love God, are trying to follow Jesus, and still get things wrong. They gossip. They lose their temper. They compose mental revenge texts. They are not pretending to be perfect — they are trying to be better and frequently falling short.
"If you're looking for a model of perfection, you are not going to find it in me or anyone else," Sally says. "If you want to know what being perfect looks like, you need to look at Jesus."
Being a Christian, in other words, is not about pretending to have it all together. It is about admitting that you do not. "Jesus says he didn't come for people who have everything sorted. He came for people that are messed up. And that is brilliant news for me."
07The Speed Awareness Course
In a lighter moment, Sally mentions that she was recently on a motorway driving speed awareness course. She had been caught doing sixty-nine in a variable sixty zone on a smart motorway. "I thought I was within the speed limit, but the variable speed limit had changed to sixty. So I was actually going quite a lot over."
The first question everyone on the course asked was: did everyone who was speeding that day get fined? That instinct — the immediate desire to know if justice was applied equally — reveals how deeply wired we are for fairness. From childhood ("he got to go first, it's not fair") through to adulthood, the sense that things should be just is baked into us.
That instinct is not wrong. It is actually pointing at something real. The question is what you do with it when the world fails to deliver.
08Making It Real
If hypocrisy has put you off Christianity. Your frustration is valid, and Jesus shares it. But separating Jesus from the behaviour of his worst representatives is worth doing. Read what he actually said and did. You might find he is nothing like the people who put you off.
If you catch yourself being a hypocrite. Welcome to the club. Sally's advice is practical: be quick to say sorry, stay teachable, and stop pretending you have it all sorted. Authenticity generates far more respect than performance ever will.
If you are holding onto a mental text message. You do not need to send it. You also do not need to pretend you are fine. The honest middle ground is admitting that you are angry, that it is unfair, and that you need help to respond well. That is not weakness. That is self-awareness.
If someone has hurt you in the name of God. That should never have happened, and no amount of theology makes it acceptable. But writing off God because of what people have done in his name is like refusing to eat because someone once served you a bad meal. The source material is better than the imitation.
09Your Next Steps
Read Mark 12:38-40. It is only three verses, but Jesus packs a lot into them. Notice who he is criticising and why.
Ask the mirror question. Where is there a gap between who you say you are and how you actually live? Not to beat yourself up — but to close the gap through honesty.
Be quick to say sorry. Sally learned this the hard way as a child, with a big brother who had to pave the way. She has got better over the years. So can you.
Stay teachable. If you remain open to correction and willing to learn from mistakes, you are already moving in the right direction. That is the opposite of hypocrisy.
10The Question That Sets You Free
Sally sums it up with a simple framework: J for Jesus — study his life for how to treat people. Y (You) — you can only control your own actions. S for Sorry — get good at saying it. T for Teachable — stay open to correction.
Hypocrisy thrives in the dark. Honesty is the antidote. And a Jesus who came specifically for imperfect, struggling, work-in-progress people is far more compelling than one who demands you have it all together before you show up.
So here is the question: where in your life is there a gap between who you say you are and how you actually live — and what would it look like to start closing it?
Topics in this talk
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hmm my me so well hello and welcome to crowd church great to see you great uh that you could join us here on your snowy sunday afternoon if you're here uh in in the uk have you been outs legends day let us know send your photos we'd love to see them i was out walking in the snow earlier on and man alive i took my wellies because you know what i didn't want to walk on the path because it was slippy and i didn't want to fall over not going to lie so i walked on the grass and didn't fall over once score me so welcome to crowd church if this is your first time here let me introduce myself my name is matt edmondson and i get to pastor this amazing online church we are an online church for those that don't see the point of church but want to know more about how jesus can help us live a meaningful life that's right that's why we're here and yes we are an online church you heard that right i love the fact we're an online church i was thinking about it this morning it's just crazy that we can do this and have the technology to do this but it's such good fun that's for sure now uh happy sunday i'm just looking at the comments here who we've got him we've got oh gosh we've got lots of people hey gemma hey charlotte hey matt uh matt's asked are we wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt today it's not a hoodie it's kind of like a jumper with a t-shirt it's almost like i kind of think of it as like a modern day vickers sweater jeremy with the with a dog collar so that's me uh jenny hi sally hi uh nicholas in the house anne's here hi anne hey sharon uh oh we got and pop says hi hey pops um hey trevor how you doing uh afternoon from snowless locks heath our friends in the frozen north we're cold we're not gonna lie trevor we're cold but it's good fun uh great that you could join us now i know many of you uh are new to crowd you're watching this for the first time so to give you a little bit of context we are part of frontline church we're based here uh has trevor said in the north of england we're based in liverpool uh and we are just here to inspire you about jesus and about how amazing he is so please do feel at home with us uh if it doesn't matter where you are on your faith journey just feel at home with us and hopefully um you'll kind of get along there we go let's put the little logo on the screen hopefully you'll get along with everything that's going on uh partake as much or as little as you like come join in the comments do say hi let us know where you're watching this from and let us know what you think ask your questions get involved in the debate share your story all i ask is you just do it respectfully you know let's keep it friendly in there uh we've got antoine hey antoine how you doing hey paula hi paula says she's new to this paula i know how you feel i feel like that every week i'm not going to lie it just is what it is but bear you're welcome great to see you paula celia's here as well hi celia so great to see so many of you in the comments all saying hi if you are watching the replay of our church livestream as i know many of you do feel free to also comment uh and join in we do monitor them you can also get a hold of us on this whatsapp number if i bring it up on the screen there it is right there uh we have the technology so you can join us by whatsapp as well and one of the things that you can do with whatsapp is you can send in your prayer request so if there's anything you would like us to pray for we would love to pray for you by all means send us those on to whatsapp and we will pray accordingly uh you can also send us your photos some people send in photos of how they're watching the live stream uh just be warned we may show them on the stream though if there's time later so just you know be aware that if you send photos in uh we may use them so uh carry on with the like comments and shares if you're if you're happy share this out on facebook share it out on youtube it's always great to connect with more people around the world really helps us to reach out which is great so let me tell you what is coming up in today's live stream oh yes we have got the very talented uh sally burch who is going to be speaking here in just a few moments time uh which is it's a bit of a reroll reversal from last week not going to lie uh where sally was leading and i was speaking we've changed roles this week we just thought we'd mix it up change change roles a little bit um because you know that's what we do and then after sally has spoke i'll be back to sort of introduce a brief time of worship and so just explain what that's all about more about that later then after the worship we are gonna have sally back on the live stream and i'm gonna get to ask her some questions so if you've got any questions that come up while sally is doing her talk put them in the comments and you never know we might get a chance to ask those to sally so sally's going to be here very very shortly uh after that we've got the catch-up video with josh and then we will close out the service somewhere around 4 45 to 5 o'clock okay so that is what is going on uh so who else have we got coming on here so paula thanks from southampton oh southampton wow okay uh great that you could join us uh matt where are the amazon ads this week yeah that was a slight mistake last week in last week's broadcast uh when it came up on facebook it talked about uh is is amazon the right place to start your business now for those of you who don't know let me explain to you why that happened i run my own ecommerce businesses and i do a live stream podcast so we do this live stream service but during the midweek i do a podcast called the ecommerce podcast kind of explains what it is a little bit really and so for some i don't know how somehow those settings got into the system anyway uh enough about that we're not going to talk about amazon anymore um so uh hey james how you doing uh hey oh matt you're just so flattering calling james a hunk anyway make sure you keep commenting uh it's always good to see and hear from folks we're going to jump into it now so again if you're new to us we have been working our way through the gospel of mark that's what we're gonna do and we are gonna sorry i've just the comment has just popped up uh here on the screen plea please finish the live stream on time for the liverpool loss said the menu fan and actually uh being a liverpool fan i don't know i'm i'm feeling slightly nervous i'm praying i'm not gonna lie uh hey sarah how you doing good to see you uh laura's watching from worcestershire or worcestershire as we say in the uk afternoon all looking forward to seeing my oldest mates face i'm assuming you're talking about sally because i'm i'm not sure it's mine anyway so we have been working our way through mark's gospel right and we've been doing this it seems like well we've sitting pretty much since crowd started which is almost a year now well in fact slightly over here and we we've been working our way through that and sally today is carrying on the conversation uh from mark's gospel and we get into this part all about hypocrisy and so sally is titled to talk christians are hypocrites it's going to be well i've heard it so you know i know it's going to be good grab your notebooks grab your pens join in the comments write down what you think and i'll be back again in just a few moments after this tour let me find the right button here to press on my system and i'll be back soon do christians are hypocrites this is an interesting title for a talk isn't it just to pre-warn you there may be one or two ouch moments today so prepare yourselves one of the big problems that those outside the church have with people who say they are christians is the level of hypocrisy that they see they say one thing and then they do something completely different why don't they just practice what they preach well that's what we're going to get into today are christians hypocrites and is it hypocritical to call someone a hypocrite the only person really qualified to answer this question is jesus which is exactly what he does in today's passage so mark chapter 12 verses 38 to 40. jesus also taught beware of the teachers of religious law for they like to parade around in flowing robes and receive respectful greetings as they walk into the marketplaces and how they love the seats of honor in the synagogues and the head table at banquets and yet they shamelessly cheat widows out of their property and pretend to be pious by making long prayers in public because of this they will be more severely punished jesus called the religious leaders of the time hypocrites what does it mean to be a hypocrite well in its original context it meant to be an actor someone playing a part someone pretending to be someone they're not and jesus said the pharisees were hypocrites because they were pretending to love god when the opposite was actually true they were admired and revered by the people because of how they were acting but in reality they were cheating widows out of their property how unfair and unjust no wonder jesus called them hypocrites and we would too we see similar things today people who profess to be christians yet they seem to be playing on the poor and the marginalized and it just feels wrong being a hypocrite then is like wearing a mask it's trying to present a different picture on the outside to what's on the inside graham marsh said that the opposite of hypocrisy is not perfection but authenticity and one of the things we really want as a society these days is authenticity transparency and openness so let me ask you do you think you are authentic as a person what about the christians that you know are they authentic see what i mean about ouch because really if i'm going to challenge someone about hypocrisy about being authentic then i first have to look at myself for example if we as parents tell our kids not to lie but then spend time creating lies to tell them just to protect them that is hypocrisy we become like the pharisees we judge others by what their actions are by what they say and what they do but we judge ourselves by our intentions and maybe that's the heart of it right there let me say that again we judge others by what their actions are what they say and what they do but we judge ourselves by our intentions so the other side of this is about justice what's right and fair and when i read the story of jesus calling out the hypocrisy because the pharisees shamelessly cheated widows out of their property i think that is not right that's not fair where is the justice now we love the kids say the funniest things over christmas so i thought i'd ask my friends to do another one for us so this time i asked them can you think of something that's happened that's really unfair and here's what they had to say after luck town my brother went to the hairdressers and then he got sweeties but then during that time when my mom cut my my hand she took a big chunk off she didn't give me any sweets when healthy in key workers school um wasn't having to work with schools and letting my goals in football matt's fault but it was let's watch the football players goes in on purpose so maxwell would lose something to tell us dr milligan's bedroom i think it's unfair when people choose the games and when we were when we knew we're watching toys we would talk and um i went to the toilet and to him when i came back down alison put the launch house on okay yes um today um i feel like being um today and and and it's woody snatching something off me and not asking and it makes me feel a bit sad and then when my friend got it talking and i was and that mate and i'm older than him then that made me feel sad and be and the reason why i want it is because i i like the dances and and stuff because grants get to stay up late and children don't and i think it's not fair because sometimes grown-ups get to drink fizzy drinks before we go to bed weren't they brilliant thanks so much guys for getting involved again i've loved your answers remember when you were little and you thought it was so unfair to have to go to bed early now i can't wait to go to bed so you can see from a very early age we have a sense of justice what's fair and what's not as a primary school teacher i hear this all the time he got to go first it's not fair she's already had a turn it's not fair and i don't think that that changes much as grown-ups either i think maybe we just say it in a different way i was on a motorway driving speed awareness course recently and the first question people asked was did everyone who was speeding that day get fined and it's that inbuilt sense of justice we have that feels aggrieved if we perceive something as unfair and there are different levels of justice as well aren't there sometimes it can be something simple like losing a game and thinking it was unfair because someone else had an advantage but sometimes it's the more important things in life like the injustice of people not having somewhere to live or food to eat and sometimes it's really hard to live with something that feels unjust to you especially when you have a really good mental message to that person prepared in your mind a couple of weeks ago someone did something that really hurt a friend of mine and i spent a good hour composing a mental message to them it was full of witty comments emotive language enough insults to let them know how upset i was but the perfect combination of examples of how they'd let this person down and i continue to imagine them receiving the text dropping to their knees begging for forgiveness and promising to change their ways public apology would follow on all platforms of social media and i would feel justice had been served even as i was playing out this scenario in my mind and thinking i could send it it's not that bad the fact that i was planning this talk suddenly hit me life is unfair and unjust people are fallible and they let us down and i can either choose to be as bad as them and retaliate or do the opposite and maybe even try to wish them well ouch that's tough and i definitely can't do that without help so i'm gonna need some help now i'm not saying that we shouldn't stand up to injustice and speak out for what's right of course we should james sloan talking about imagine if trust a couple of weeks ago is the perfect example of that and there's so much injustice in the world and we need to make a stand against it imagine if are doing a fabulous job with that different projects that they run and you can find out more or get involved with them then just check out the imagine if website so jesus was the perfect example of this he pointed out things that were wrong in a loving way he wasn't afraid to say something was unjust and he did something about it practically perhaps it's his delivery that differs from mine in this passage jesus tells us not to be like the religious leaders not to be hypocritical but he knows that we will sometimes fail at this and he offers us grace and forgiveness some people do awful things and claim that they are doing it for god things that god wouldn't want anyone to do let alone do it in his name and the crusaders is an example of this hundreds and thousands of people killed and they were called holy wars but actually it was a way of getting more money how hypocritical some people claim that they are christians literally followers of christ and yet they're as far away from the jesus i know as possible gandhi said i like your christ i do not like your christians they are so unlike your christ ouch you might have had a really awful experience with someone who says they're a christian someone who claimed to be full of the love of jesus but actually treated you badly or in a totally unloving way and i'm so sorry that's happened to you maybe you see everything that's happening in the world by people who claim to be christians and you think i don't want to be any part of that and if that's the case i would urge you not to judge god by what you see and hear people do jesus is with you on this one so if you're not a christian and one of your chief blockages is the fact that you see christians being hypocritical then you're in good company jesus also calls out hypocrisy in people especially those who profess to be god's people then there are people who do love god and are trying to become more like jesus but they are also human and so aren't perfect not even close to perfect all of us sometimes do or say the wrong thing we hurt people we gossip we lie if you're looking for a model of perfection you are not going to find it in me or anyone else whether they claim to be a christian or not if you want to know what being perfect looks like you need to look at jesus he never messes up or gets stuff wrong he knows what a perfect looks like a perfect life looks like it means loving god perfectly loving each other perfectly that's a tall order isn't it and one i hope to get better at day by day when i can only get better at with his help and i'm not saying that anything less than perfection isn't good enough i'm saying that we can always try to be more like jesus when jesus meets the pharisees he calls them exactly what they are hypocrites he says they make themselves look good on the outside but on the inside they are really ugly and because they are lying about who they really are they're judgmental and make the rest of us feel bad jesus says they've got god all wrong being a christian isn't about pretending to be good it's about admitting that you fall way short of perfect jesus says he didn't come for people who have everything sorted he came for people that are messed up and that is brilliant news for me jesus doesn't want us to pretend that we always do the right thing he wants us to say sorry for the wrong things that we do and he says he will forgive us if we do that don't be surprised if christians mess up and let you down we all do that and we all need to say sorry a lot when i was a child i found it really hard to say sorry i had a big brother who would help me he would stand in that gap and prepare the way he'd say to my mum now i know she doesn't look or sound like she's sorry but honestly she is and then i'd walk in and growl sorry and my mum would always forgive me and give me a hug i have got better over the years i hope but i'm a work in progress even though becoming a christian doesn't make you perfect overnight it does change how you live jesus says that when we follow him we become more like him we live more like he lived and we care more about what he cares about we learn to love god more and we learn to treat each other better too so sometimes when you see christians acting in a way that is hypocritical it's a great reminder that these are exactly the kind of people that jesus came to help jesus is the perfect benchmark that we can never achieve but through his grace and forgiveness we can keep trying now it's not about trying harder it's just about learning through our mistakes being quick to say sorry and asking for help each day for more love more patience more self-control so going back to my earlier example of the text i was composing i don't need to worry about if that person gets the justice they deserve i only need to worry about what i'm doing and how i'm acting i can't control how other people behave i can only control my response and my behavior so to sum up here's a lovely four-point acrostic for the word just so j is for jesus jesus is the true example of leading a perfect life study his life for how we should live and how we should treat people you okay it's a bit of a dodgy one here but go with me you can't control other people's actions but you can control your own s sorry we need to be good at saying sorry and quick to say sorry and t for teachable if we stay teachable and open to correction then we're on the road to being more like jesus what a great talk sal great talk i've got a few questions in my notebook so we're going to get into those uh questions in just a few minutes now if you have any thoughts any comments any questions on what sauer said be great to hear from you just put them in the comments whether you're on facebook or whether you're on youtube uh just put them in the comments uh i'm going to be talking sal in just a few minutes about her talk as we're going to get into that so how about it uh in the meantime what we're going to do now is we're going to have a time of worship which in christian circles just means we're going to sing a little bit uh now if you um if you want to sing along feel free if you're new to the christian faith or you're new to church and it doesn't really make too much deal a great deal of sense for you to sing uh just listen to the words just enjoy the music and just think about what sally said uh and how that applies to you as as as we do this worship is always good i think just have a few minutes just to process a talk so that's what we're going to do during this worship this song is called your love is amazing the lyrics are kind of self-explanatory uh in the in the chorus we use this word a lot hallelujah it uses this word hallelujah it just means praise the lord thank you god thank you jesus so whenever you see the word hallelujah you're just saying thank you okay or praise you god and so this is gonna be a song praise you god for your love because it is amazing and the love of god is amazing as sao touched on so we're going to do the worship and i'll be back after that and then we're going to get sally on your love is amazing steady and unchanging your love is a mountain from beneath my feet your love is a mystery how you gently lift me when i am surrounded your love carries your love makes me sad your love is surprising i can't feel it rising all the joy that's growing deep inside of me every time i see you all your goodness shines through i can feel this god song rising up [Applause] hallelujah well what a fantastic track that is thanks dan for doing that dan pryor is an absolute legend and a super talented musician and i just love that song god your love is amazing it is steady it is unchanging it is ever faithful and that's what that song's all about now of course one of the things that i noticed during the comments during that was a debate i never expected to be happening ketchup or brown sauce it seems the uh the people amongst you are split so uh i'm going to bring salon and i think that might be our first question so here we go hey sal thanks for joining us how are you doing oh yeah yeah yeah brown sauce is just wrong on so many levels but let's just not go there and and like nicola said she can always bring the deep questions to the uh to the to the comments so nicola it's been great you've been coming along and asking the deep questions about cheese last week and brown sauce this week tune in to find out next week's question is going to be because we just don't know um so i've now got to sort of go through these comments and try and figure out which ones actually we need to talk about sal because and which ones we don't with all the ketchup uh but how did you find the talk honestly how was it listening to yourself uh on the talk yeah [Laughter] yeah you need to i mean that that's the funny thing isn't it about hypocrisy here sometimes we we kind of go yeah i've said it therefore i've got to do it myself otherwise especially when it comes to hypocrisy otherwise you're just spiraling out of control right yeah yeah absolutely brilliant okay so question number one for yourself let's jump into this because i think it's such a fascinating uh topic isn't it and a lot of people do struggle uh with this um so oh it says here that sally is echoing uh in the comments i don't know if you notice have you got any headphones out um okay who is the glamour we're gonna fix this echo uh is what we're gonna do so whilst that's going on uh my first question um is gonna be around at the start we you mentioned this phrase um we judge others by their actions we what is that what do you what does that mean to you have you got any examples of what that could possibly mean i have scared this is what we call state-of-the-art technology live broadcast in here is that better better i have no idea because i wasn't getting an echo anyway so can every anyone tell me uh in the comments has the echo gone and there's a 20-second lag cell so you carry on talking and hopefully it's gone now okay i've no idea and also do you have facebook open on your computer if you do you should probably close it no i don't i don't okay so we should be all right you crack on so um oh it's still echoing yep we can still hear you can still be still here okay i'll take these out okay yeah the question was is it is it if if we're judging others by our actions and ourselves by our intentions have we have you got an example of that yeah i was thinking i was thinking about this and how certain things you know comments about you know i've seen lots of groups of teenagers around and i'm really unhappy about this and you know you yourself might have a teenager who's struggling with mental health issues or something like that so you've let them meet up with one or two other people and that's kind of been your that's your intention your intention isn't to break the rules and kind of be a hypocrite and say you know i'm not going to break the rules and then you do your intention is actually the best for your child but other people would see it as oh you're being a hypocrite you're saying you're doing the right thing and then you're not so it's it's that sort of thing where we know the reason why we're doing something we we know the intention behind it even if it might be hypocritical whereas other people just see the action of it that's kind of why i was going at there is that okay does that make sense yeah that makes a lot of sense so thank you for that i think i'm hoping we've cured the echo problem now uh so we've been tweaking the settings rapidly here in the background so hopefully it's all good now oh yes it's all good now echo's gone few sorry about that the drama the drama as it says now so let's i want to get into because it's i think it's such a great example right let's talk about the trump protests this sort of very topical um conversation right i mean it's totally tropical isn't it because you've got christians doing crazy things that some would say what do you what do you think about that i think it's a really good example of people doing things you know in the name of god um you know but being so completely off the mark of what actually a loving god would want you to do so acting and then saying you're doing it for that reason but actually you know god would never have wanted that we'd never wanted those people to be hurt or for people to kind of respond in that way and that's that's like that's real hypocrisy right there and especially doing it in the name of god and that's just gonna turn people off to god isn't it that's no one's gonna um gonna wanna see that and god himself i don't i don't believe that he would wanna see people acting like that because god is a god of love and a god of grace and and not somebody who would want want you to react like that yeah no that's that's fair comment um but it is it is quite topical isn't it and when you watch it on the news and your your heart breaks because like you say people are doing this in the name of god and i just i'm genuinely gutted yeah i mean that's one of the things that i sort of touched on i don't want to get kind of super political because it's obviously a bit of a divider but that's one of the things i was saying about people doing things in god's name and people very high profile people getting up and saying they're christians and that that almost kind of allows them to kind of say and do whatever they want and they're doing it in god's name and i just think that that's that's so wrong and that's what the pharisees were doing yeah yeah no very true very true um so some questions in from the comments here charlotte says my question is this how can christians communicate genuine humility to others maybe uh trying their best at life but not having the same beliefs because earlier on actually shaw wrote this in the comments which thought was great i don't expect anyone to be perfect but i think many christians act like they have some moral insight into right and wrong that non-believers don't have have you got any thoughts on that yeah yeah i think um the sort of the second part of the question was how how can we be um how can we kind of communicate genuine humility i think is really by saying sorry when you get it wrong and actually admitting that you're fallible i think sometimes we feel like we have to be seen to be perfect or be seen to be always doing the right thing and actually what's much more authentic and much more real and actually generates a lot more respect is is saying i got that wrong i'm really sorry or you know i was really judgmental and i should have been or even you know i don't actually know the answer to that um i think that those things actually they create a much more genuine response and people have much more respect for that than just pretending that you know the answer to everything and that you've got everything right and perfect i know i certainly don't have that um yeah so that would be my answer for that that's a great question charlotte it is a great question it is an absolutely fantastic question and i wonder actually from christians sometimes there's a bit of a pressure that they put on themselves to try and be right which i mean to try and have all the answers to try and act the right way to try and do the right things all the time because they feel like they have to as and it kind of puts you in corners sometimes which i don't think are that helpful um but yeah okay to just say i actually don't know or i might have got that wrong or you know but much better yeah yeah absolutely brilliant so apparently the echo has gone on youtube and facebook which is fab now uh as we round this off uh sal i guess my my some of my final questions are this how fast were you actually going on the motorway bad it was um it was still wrong i shouldn't have done it um but it was on a smart motorway and actually i'm really glad i went on the speed awareness course because i discovered lots of things i didn't know about smart motorways and one of the things is the variable speed limits so i was driving at 69 which i thought was in within the speed limit but the variable speed limit had changed to 60 so i was actually going quite a lot oh of career in the comments here he thought you were going to go 110 miles an hour what am i in my fiesta no oh wow wow so anyway sorry i interrupted you you learned that the speed limit changes on these smart waterways yeah who knew there's a great big sign above but what i hadn't realized is that they changed the speed limit on the smart motorways they changed the speed limit regularly to keep the traffic moving and you know in case of something ahead and all these sorts of things and i thought you know i just thought i was on a bit of normal motorway so yeah bless that actually feels a bit wrong feels a bit harsh i feel for you there uh but you know well done for admitting it and and bringing that out uh and then my final question for you is going to be uh we've got the liverpool manu game klopp's given his pre-match conference call now what do you think oh don't even get me started um oh we're just if we're going on previous form then we're going to lose aren't we but i believe in miracles i believe in klopp i believe in the red man come on i really really really please yeah yeah and for those of you watching the live stream they haven't got a clue what we're talking about we're talking about a football match a soccer match for those outside of england that is about to happen between liverpool and manchester united probably two of the greatest rivals in my heart in my heart i believe jesus is a liverpool fan you know what that is probably the most contentious thing you've said all day forget all the trip stuff i'm sorry sorry all other football fans are only joking it's it's an ongoing journey of self-control for me i regularly have to apologize and say sorry so that's that's just yet another example of how imperfect i am there you go brilliant and we saw that live in action hey so you've been an absolute legend thanks for being with us thanks for coming back and ask answering the question sorry about it uh everyone i'm not quite sure what was going on there but it seems to be fixed now which is great so uh oh you've set it off now jesus is a united fan jesus is a saint uh as in southampton saints when the saints came marching josh is saying that jesus is an everton fan i mean you've just kick-started all now i'm so sorry i really think matt we should have a policy about not talking about football on here because it's just you know we were doing so well weren't we yeah and then i messed it up and yeah and they messed it up yeah brilliant brilliant awesome thank you sal much appreciated uh we will see you next week right you're going to be back next week leading the meeting which is cool yeah leading the meeting next week so see everyone next week but have a great rest of the day thanks everyone thanks um well that is sally birch the legend that is sally butch so isn't sal fab uh so what's paula put here i'm not into football prefer rugby oh well it's not going the whole rugby thing now we're going to kickstart everything uh what we are going to do now for those of you new to the stream we are going to play the catch-up video so i'm going to let josh explain to you what ketchup is so we're going to run that video and then i'll be back after it to close the service out but here's ketchup hello and welcome to this week's sunday catch up for those of you who don't know me allow me to introduce myself my name is josh i am one of the members of the team here at crowd church and i'm a student at the university of saint andrews studying physics if you have not watched the stream before welcome it's wonderful to have you we love getting new people in let me just quickly explain what catch up is every week we get in pictures and videos from people in the community that we put on the stream just so that we get a feel for what everyone else is getting up to because it's pretty hard to keep up to date with other people's lives in this very very socially distanced time as per usual i will kick off with something that i've done this week before i do that though there is something very exciting that i want to share with you look at that it's actually snowing do you like the snow or not let me know in the comments down below snow or no oh gosh that's that's really tacky if you've been with us for a few weeks you will have seen me post this picture of a donut that i made in some 3d modeling software so this is completely cgi it's not real i then took that a step further following along this tutorial series i've been doing and i made this little scene so you can see you've got the the original donut in there but i've added a plate i've added in a mug with some coffee and a spoon and we have a countertop and a wall at the back it's all completely fake one of my lodges no longer trusts anything that i show that's enough for me let's get on to our catch-up clips microwave awesome thanks for sending those in i've definitely been sensing a bit of a cat theme on ketchup these past few weeks i'm kind of curious to see where this goes whether sort of the dog lovers will compete and send in pictures of their dogs or whether it's going to be a very cat dominated market for a good little while we love seeing all your catch-up stuff so please please please do send in videos and pictures for the stream every week it's it's just really nice to see what everyone's doing and what everyone's that is all from me this week thank you very much for watching and i will catch next time awesome thanks josh for doing that great to see this week's catch-up video and like josh said if you're watching this just sending your photos or your videos to the whatsapp number i will put the whatsapp number on the screen now there it is you can send those in uh during the week um and please we've got enough cat stuff um we've just got enough cat stuff okay sending your videos and your photos be great see what you've been getting up to now next week sharon my beautiful wife asking a question is the church just after my money now it seems that in this particular portion of scripture jesus is dealing with uh two of probably one of the biggest or two of the biggest reasons people really struggle with the christian faith they view the churches you know full of hypocrites which shall brilliantly talked about today uh and we also you know hear about uh the church just being after my money you know with that's all they want so sharon's gonna deal with that head-on next week and i know it's gonna be good so uh make sure you come join us for that next week 4 p.m uh live stream sal and i will be hosting the meeting sharon is going to be speaking in the meantime let me tell you let me give you one quick notice about a new midweek group that we are starting so on wednesday evenings at 8 p.m in the uk there's a new midweek group starting for those that uh of you who would like to get to um each other a bit more who would like to journey a little bit more into the christian faith we're going to be doing them on zoom uh i know we're all zoomed out but it's gonna be you know gonna be doing great it's uh it's gonna be one of those things so we're gonna get involved in that it's called if i don't i don't know if we've got a name for it it's called the group let's just call it that for now come along uh into that again let us know if you're interested either in the comments or put it in the whatsapp and we'll let you know the zoom link for that that's going to be starting a week on wednesday okay a week on wednesday and if you're subscribed to the email there's more information about it in the email if you're not subscribed to the email just head on over to the website crowds.church putting your name and email address and you'll get the weekly email with all the stuff uh going on so do connect with us via the email which would be great okay so what we got here um uh paula says meow uh great talk sal from james uh from nikla from gem everyone's saying it's a great talk sharon everybody antoine uh fantastic uh nicholas says there is never enough cats okay uh yeah absolutely so uh that is going to be everything now the way we close out the service again for those of you who have been not been here before what happens is we're going to play some worship songs so if you want to carry on and just enjoy uh some more worship you're more than welcome to carry on with it with the stream we're just going to put those worship songs on and then once they finish the live stream will end automatically uh you don't have to do anything it will just end automatically but we're going to play two worship songs now that's going to be it from me so from myself from sally from everyone here at crowd thanks for joining us have a fantastic week uh wherever you are whatever you're doing um it's been great to see you great to have so many people commenting both on facebook and youtube thanks so much for joining us thanks for being part of the crowd bye for now god of goodness anything less than your life giving true my heart only in you do i have it all only in you jesus god could only us how great you are how great am beyond measure how great you are how great you are oh only in new jersey before i spoke a word you were singing over me you have been so so good to me before i took a breath you breathed your life in me you have been so so kind to me oh the overwhelming never-ending reckless love of god it chases me down fights till i'm found leaves the 99 i couldn't earn it i don't deserve it still you give yourself away when i was your foe steal your love for when i felt no worth you paid it all for me you have been so so kind oh the overwhelming never-ending reckless love of god oh it chases me down fights till i'm found leaves the 99 i couldn't earn it i don't deserve it still you give yourself away there's no shadow you won't light up mountain you won't climb up coming after there's no wall you won't kick down lie you won't tear down coming after me mountain you won't climb up coming lie you won't turn out coming after me mountain you won't climb coming after me there's no shadow you won't light up a mountain you won't climb up the snow wall you won't kick down lie you won't tear down coming after me or the overwhelming never-ending i could endure it i don't
