In this week’s service, Sharon delves into the book of Acts, specifically focusing on the story of Cornelius, a Roman centurion who was earnestly seeking God. This story serves as a metaphor for modern individuals seeking a spiritual connection in a digital age.The talk encourages listeners to seek God actively, consider the evidence of His existence, and take steps in faith even if they don't have the whole picture.
01When an Angel Showed Up for a Roman Soldier
What does it look like to search for God when you don't have the full picture? What happens when someone takes the little they know about God and actually lives it out?
These are the questions at the heart of this episode, where Sharon explores the story of Cornelius from Acts chapter 10 — a Roman centurion who was seeking God long before he had all the answers.
02A Soldier Who Didn't Fit the Mould
Cornelius was a centurion in the Roman army, stationed in Caesarea. He was part of the Italian Regiment, a leadership role at the lower end of the military hierarchy. He knew what it meant to take orders, and he knew what it meant to give them.
But here is what makes Cornelius stand out. He lived in a city that was culturally hostile to the Jewish faith. Caesarea had been rebuilt by Herod the Great and was dominated by Gentiles. History tells us there had been significant tension between Jewish and non-Jewish populations, with Roman soldiers typically siding against the Jews.
And yet, Cornelius had turned his back on the polytheistic Roman religion. He was drawn to something in Judaism — something that rang true. The passage describes him and his household as "devout and God-fearing." He prayed regularly and gave generously to those in need.
As Sharon points out, the Greek word used for "devout" means worshipful. The term "God-fearer" was commonly used to describe Gentile sympathisers — people who looked at the Jewish faith favourably, who perhaps recognised truth in it and adopted some Jewish practices in varying degrees.
03Asking the Right Questions
Sharon raises a point that cuts right through modern thinking. Many people today question the beliefs they were raised with, but often the question they ask is, "Is this working for me?" or "Is this true for me?"
She suggests we are asking the wrong questions. The real question is: "Is this objectively true? Is God objectively real?"
Many assume all paths lead to God or that all belief systems are equally valid. But as Sharon notes, that position does not hold up logically, and it is certainly not what the Bible teaches. She has explored this concept in previous talks available on the Crowd Church website.
Cornelius was not casually hedging his bets. The Greek word for "prayed" in this passage means to beg of God. This was not someone going through the motions. He was serious about finding God, even though he did not have the complete picture.
04Living in the Light You Have
This is where the talk lands on its central idea. Sharon frames it around two questions: Are you seeking God? And are you living in the light that you already have?
Cornelius knew God existed. He knew to respect God. And his actions — prayer and generosity — reflected what he understood. He was living up to the light he had.
Sharon references Romans 1, which says: "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse."
For those who are unsure whether God exists, she offers several starting points. Paley's watchmaker analogy suggests that complexity in nature points to a designer. Biochemistry professor Michael Behe's argument for irreducible complexity makes a similar case — that even a single cell contains systems that all need to be present simultaneously to function, suggesting intentional creation rather than accident. And the DNA in our cells contains language, which in every other context we attribute to intelligence.
These are just a few pointers from a much larger body of evidence spanning scientific specialities, morality, and consciousness.
05When God Responds to a Seeker
Then comes the moment that changes everything for Cornelius. One afternoon, at about three o'clock, he has a vision. An angel appears and says, "Cornelius, your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering before God."
The angel gives him specific but limited instructions: send men to Joppa to find a man called Simon Peter, who is staying with Simon the Tanner by the sea. No explanation of why. Just the next step.
Sharon observes that this is often how God works in her own experience — not giving the whole picture at once, but providing just enough information for the next step.
Cornelius had a choice. He could act on the message or ignore it. The passage tells us he acted immediately, calling two servants and a devout soldier and sending them to Joppa.
In the conversation afterwards, the hosts reflect on what it means that Cornelius's prayers and giving "came up as a memorial before God." In the Old Testament, memorials were tangible reminders of what God had done — altars, piles of stones, feasts. The idea that our prayers and generosity build something before God, that heaven sees and remembers, is a striking thought.
As Matt puts it, sometimes prayer can feel like it is falling on deaf ears. But the story of Cornelius suggests otherwise.
06A Story That Includes Guest Testimony
The episode also features a testimony from Anya, who shares her own story of searching for God. Raised in a Catholic background in Poland, she could not find God there. She moved into occultism, still searching, and found only "the enemy of God." Eventually she gave up entirely.
It was through her adopted mother sharing a personal experience of God that everything changed. Anya realised God had been in front of her the whole time — she had simply been looking in the wrong places. Her encouragement is straightforward: "Open your Bible. He is there and he is waiting for you."
07What Is Your Next Step?
Sharon closes with a practical challenge. What is your next step?
Maybe it is to consider the evidence for God's existence. Maybe it is to actively seek God and cry out to him. Maybe it is to do something you know you are meant to be doing but have not got around to yet.
The story of Cornelius shows that you do not need to have it all figured out. You do not need perfect theology or decades of Bible knowledge. But you do need to live within the light you have, to seek God actively, and to respond when he speaks.
As Matthew 7 puts it: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you."
Next week, the story continues — what happened when Cornelius's men found Simon Peter?
What light do you already have that you might not be living up to?
Topics in this talk
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today I want to ask you two questions firstly regardless of whether or not you're already a Christ follower are you seeking God and secondly are you living in the light that you already have if you don't understand the second question hopefully you will by the end of the talk in case you're new to crowd we're currently working our way very slowly through the book of a book in the Bible called Acts and in case you're new to the Bible the book of Acts is a follow-on from The Book of Luke and both were probably written by Luke between 70 and 90 A.D The Book of Luke describes what Jesus didn't talk and the book of Acts tells about the things his followers did by the power of the Holy Spirit after Jesus died rose again and went to heaven it's a history of the early church and the spread of Christianity Jesus followers started in Israel telling the Jewish people about Jesus but as the book of Acts progresses they start going further and further afield and also telling non-jewish people or Gentiles about Jesus and how to get to know God Jesus had told them to do this and in fact throughout the Bible we see how God chose one people group the Jews to bring God's message to all of the world so that everyone could get to know him in the Bible we see that God likes to work in partnership with people today's story is about one of these gentile people a man in the Roman army called Cornelius and although Gentiles had become followers of Jesus before the story of Cornelius is very significant for reasons I'll talk about next week when I carry on with the story so let's look at the passage it's from acts 10 verses 1 to 7. at caesarea there was a man named Cornelius a centurion in what was known as the Italian regiment he and all his family would devout and God-fearing he gave generously to those in need and prayed to God regularly one day at about three in the afternoon he had a vision he distinctly saw an angel of God who came to him and said Cornelius Cornelius stared at him in fear what is it Lord he asked the angel answered your prayers and gifts to the poor have come up as a memorial offering for God now some mentor jopper to bring back a man named Simon who's called Peter he's staying with Simon the Tanner whose house is by the sea when the angel who spoke to him had gone Cornelius called two of his servants and a devout soldier who was one of his attendants he told them everything that had happened and sent them to Joppa now I always like to know a little bit about the history the culture and language of the language of the passages that I read in the Bible because I think it helps it bring bring it all to life and I also like to know how they time with other passages so here are some of the things that I've learned and just to give you a feel for who Cornelius was and what his situation was so we know from the passage that Connie list was a centurion in the Roman army in terms of ranking he was at the lower end of leadership but he knew it was what it was to be answerable to men higher up in the Army than he was but he also knew what it what it was like to have men under his command he was part of the Italian regiment where most of the recruits were probably from Italy as opposed to some of the other countries recruits were from we also know that he lived in caesarea which is about 120 kilometers Northwest of Jerusalem and today it's a national park before the time of Cornelius caesarea had been a small settlement on the coast and was known as Stratos Tower I'm not sure about the pronunciation of that but anyway um it was rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great not long before Jesus was born and you may know Herod the Great as the man who had all the baby boys under the age of two killed in Bethlehem the town where Jesus was born in an attempt to kill Jesus when he was a child when Herod rebuilt the city he he renamed it caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus it was probably a bit of a boot licking exercise the season Augustus was the first Roman Emperor and you may know him as the one who called for the census which led to Jesus parents going to Bethlehem in the first place so the passage says that Cornelius and his household were devout the Greek word that's used here for devout means worshipful It also says they were God fear is the word used here in the Greek was commonly used to talk about Gentile sympathizers they were people who looked at the Jewish people and their faith favorably maybe they weren't convinced that the religion they've been brought up with was actually true but they liked aspects of the Jewish faith or maybe they recognized truth in the face of the Jews and took on some of the Jewish practices in varying degrees in cornelius's case this meant praying and giving to people who were in need so it looks like Cornelius has turned his back on his polytheistic Roman religion with all its many gods and goddesses and is at least dabbling in Judaism caesarea at this time wouldn't have felt culturally welcoming to Jews and history suggests that Gentiles dominated that City and that they'd been quite a lot of tension between the two groups including killings and in the past the Roman soldiers had tended to side with the non-jews in any disputes so it's interesting that Cornelius is potentially making his life more difficult by his interest in Judaism maybe you can relate to this maybe you were brought up as an atheist a Muslim a Hindu or even as a Christian and you're questioning the upbringing for some you're questioning is making your life more difficult because those around you don't like your questions can be a good thing it's good to check that what we're basing our lives on is actually true but many people today question their beliefs they were brought up with in terms of is this working for me and is this true for me if that's the case I think we're asking the wrong questions the question we need to ask is this is this objectively true is God objectively real um is this objectively true for everyone many today assume that all paths lead to God although all are equally valid but that's not the case according to the Bible and it doesn't even make sense logically I've looked at this concept in the past so I'm not going to look at this here but if you want to listen to that you can check out our website the passage also says that Cornelius prayed continually to God it wasn't a casual one-off prayer the Greek word for prayed here means to beg of God this is not a man who's just thrown through their emotions trying to make himself feel good by doing some good stuff and rattling off a few prayers to God he's serious about finding God he didn't have the whole picture of who God is or how to know him but at least he's living up to the light that he had by that I mean that he knew God existed he knew to respect God and this is shown in his actions of prayer and helping those in need so I come back to my original questions are you seeking God and are you living in the light that you have maybe you're not sure if God exists in the first place the Bible says that the truth of God's existence can be seen through what he's made the book of Romans says this for since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities his eternal power and divine nature have been clearly seen being understood from what is made so that people are without excuse if you're someone who's not sure of God's existence I want to encourage you to look at the evidence from the world around you much has been written on this and there's not time to go into all of it here but here are just a few pointers so paley's watchmaker analogy says that if you come across something as complex as a watch you'd rightly assume that an intelligent designer a watchmaker made it so when we see things that have got far greater complexity than a watch such as an eye it points to there being a designer a biochemistry Professor Michael behe made similar points in his argument for irreducible complexity even a single cell has systems that all need to be present at the same time for the cell to work they had to come into existence as complete systems suggesting that someone created them rather than them coming by accident and the DNA in our cells contains language and in all other cases if we see language we assume intelligence behind it there are many many more arguments from different scientific Specialties and also from morality from Consciousness which provide compelling a cumulative case for the existence of God or maybe you believe that God exists but you like Cornelius you don't totally know who he is you have lots of unanswered questions and that's okay are you living with what within what you know already are you living up to the light you have are you seeking God the same goes for those of us who are Christ followers those questions I think are both challenging and comforting challenging because if we think we have a lot of light we are answerable for a lot at the same time when preparing for talk to crowd I can become very aware of what I don't know there are people out there who have much more knowledge about the Bible it's history its languages and the significance of all the information contained in it the research for a talk can become a bit overwhelming because there's so much to learn so I find the story of Cornelius encouraging because it shows we don't have to know it all but we do have to live within the light that we have to seek gods and to call on him and he will give us more light Matthew 7 verses 7 to 8 says ask and it will be given to you seek and you'll find knock and the door will be open to you for everyone who asks receives the one who seeks fines and the to the one who knocks the door will be opened it takes being active on our part God wants to know us and wants to be known by us but he he doesn't force himself on those who are not interested God will answer but it may not be when we expect or how we expect we're going to hear now from my lovely friend Anya who was searching for God and didn't get the answer straight away so here is uh Anya um Anna and I would like to tell you about my personal story how I found God so I'm from Poland and that country is very well known for strong Catholic background and that's how I was brought up however I couldn't find God there and I know it's all individual and all personal but it wasn't for me later on I move on to occultism trying to find him there because I could feel that there is more to my life than just this plain existence I knew there was more to everyone else life than just what we can see and I couldn't find him there he wasn't there all I found is the enemy of God and people who have a little bit different opinion about Wales so I stopped searching all together I just give up he wasn't answering my prayers he wasn't around me I gave up and that was until I went to Frontline and my mom spoke to me about God she has been she adopted me so she's my adopted mom but she told me about God she told me who he is she told me about personal experience with him and how close to us he is I could not believe that he was always in front of my nose that he was always with me he never left me he never abandoned me it was me who was looking in all the wrong places if you want to find God open your Bible he is there and he is waiting for you and he's ready so are you ready to find God are you ready for a relationship with him and the best adventure of your life here I'm so much more after than pick up your Bible and read it and you're gonna find God I wonder how long corniest Cornelius had been devout and pleading with God the passage doesn't say maybe it was just a short time or maybe it had been for years I wonder if he questioned if God actually heard him I bet he wasn't expecting an angel in the answer to his prayers but that's what he got an angel who basically said Cornelius you know all that time you spent praying God heard you and all those people that you helped God saw you and he sent me with some instructions for you you need to send your people to go and find a man called Simon Peter who's staying with Simon atana as far as we know the angel didn't say why Cornelius needed to find Peter he gave him just enough information for the next step and I find that's often the case in my own life God doesn't give me the whole picture in one go just the next step Cornelius now had a choice what was he going to do with the message was he gonna follow the instructions or was he going to ignore it the passage tells us he acted on it immediately we have the same choice so what is your next step is it to consider the evidence for the existence of God is it to actively look for God and cry out to him is it to do something that you know you're meant to be doing but haven't got around to yet if you're up for it write your thoughts in the comments and next week I'm going to carry on the story to find out what happened when cornelius's men found Simon Peter um so for now there will be discussion about all that I've said after this coming up we have conversation street but before we get into that here's a clip from our podcast what's the story which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps I remember a couple at the time who were kind of good friends and mentors in my life and talking about this feeling of acute loneliness and they actually really encouraged me the phrase they used was you know you actually need to run into the loneliness Ruth you need to run into the pain and you need to sit with the loneliness and sit with yourself and see what happens so I intentionally started to try and empty my diary a bit more try to not cram it full of people and activity and be space and that space it was scary that's what I did and really God did meet me in that space and in that loneliness so welcome back to conversation Street as we're just playing around with all the tech again so right talk by Sharon another great tool we're going to get into that make sure you've got your comments and thoughts written down we can see them on the screen over here which is why we're always looking to our left so we can see what you've written down which is awesome um so thank you Sharon for doing that and also just a quick side break what's up what's the story podcast I hope you subscribed I hope you're listening to it uh some amazing episodes in the moment yes are they yeah there are I listened to um yeah one a couple weeks ago about a lady that set up the charity Hannah's yes Hannah's house yeah brilliant very poignant if you've been watching the news and an article that Sky News have put up like the difference between the two articles amazing but aren't you read that and find out yeah read one this to the other yeah yeah read that and find out do your homework but no loving the what's the story podcast I'm loving the fact that Anna is anal Anna I started doing some of the hosting of the podcast she's a much better host I have to be honest with you than me um and so it's great to see Anna doing that sadaf's gonna start hosting some of the podcasts as well she wants to do some she's got a whole list of people she wants to interview on the podcast which is great so we've got more people coming and actually next week on the what story podcast Anna is interviewing me and this was a this was actually an episode we weren't planning on releasing um this is something that was a test I say a test this was something that I did with Anna um when she was learning how to do the podcast uh and we thought oh this has actually worked out quite well so we thought we'd we'd show the whole thing which was uh which was great so that's what we did uh and so um so yeah that's next week but do make sure to subscribe uh we put it in the comments what's the storypodcast.com and also a link to roost episode which is fantastic so do check that out right let's get into the talk let's talk about the talk shall we conversation streets Cornelius part one finding God in the digital age uh by the beautiful Sharon there um so I saw you busy taking lots of notes on your iPad see Dan is taking notes on his iPad I'm old school yeah I don't know if that shows our age difference a little bit Ace differences though like two years oh mate I set you up there you could have got away with it um yeah I don't do paper anymore cramp get cramped no I like to be able to just see it and then remember it as well don't forget to talk into your work sorry [Laughter] um I I love the yeah the habit of prayer and this Cornelius without even really yeah yeah that much just begged pleaded that's amazing isn't it yeah you're not when God speaks to you and he answers you it's easier to keep praying yeah when you're there and you don't know too much yeah but you're like well go to that I'll see you in creation I'm going to keep praying yeah yeah but hey you've got an angel came to see him that is true he did get an angel come see him didn't he and um and it's it's quite fascinating isn't it this sort of Supernatural experience that he has when he's searching out God he's not got a theology he's not read the Bible because the Bible wasn't written then he was just seeking after God and an angel appears to him and he has this quite Supernatural experience and one of the things that I've been loving hearing about um around the sort of the known world is this idea that God is doing these sort of Supernatural appearances two people who are searching for him but don't know really how to find him yeah um and so you hear about um like there's a lot of people in the Muslim world who are having these sort of John Harding talked about it on the yeah I was thinking was it on crowd was it or something yeah no John talked about on crowd yeah when he talked about the Damascus Road experience which is uh was it last week last week because you enrius did that one did my sister yeah yeah um and so that was last week's one you know and God sort of supernaturally appear into people and here we see that example don't we so God supernaturally Appears to Saul last week and this week as Cornelius a man who feared God a devout man and God still met him um which is well it's quite wonderful really um I don't know what you think about that yeah I I think it's great I think going back to the the revelations and stuff that the God doesn't he came he came with Jesus we've got the Bible we've got stories and this is what we're you know we're we're in but in people that don't have that still get to meet God um and and something else Sean said later on was live within the light that we have that if you're pursuing God if you're pursuing if you don't even know it's God you just notice something out there he he answers us doesn't he yeah he just yeah yeah very much so and uh and I like that one of the things that actually that I really liked about these verses um was that uh the Angels was what the angel said to Cornelius right so the angel says to Cornelius he said um your arms and your giving have come up as a memorial before God right so um your prayers your your arms you're giving your financial giving have come up um as a memorial before God which at first glance can sound like a it can sound a little bit odd because what's a memorial yeah right yeah um and what's interesting is uh whatever a memorial is it had to do with his prayers and his financial giving um and and that's quite fascinating that this is sort of what kick-started his whole yeah Journey we talk about um the verse in the Bible it says faith without works is dead yeah we can believe in God and we can be praying but there's got to be some kind of action as well and that's actually evident there wasn't it yeah it was just like we've got seen you're not just thinking about it it's not just something you're happy actually doing what you're talking about yeah yeah yeah it's it's what do you think uh what do you think about the whole thing um because I like I said I find the whole thing quite fascinating and so he was a man that fed God he his prayers and his giving came up as a memorial before God and so this this phrase Memorial by the way just to sort of be clear what it is when it says it came up as a memorial before God this is where um in the Old Testament there's a lot of imagery uh where God says to his people this you know like Israelites they get the Israelites the Israelites okay the Israelites crossed the Red Sea and God says build a memorial um it's basically a pile of rockers altar yeah yeah it's always it's something to remind you of what God has done right so whenever you saw them there's two ways that it talks about this in scripture really one was he saw you sort of built something which reminded you of it um and then you uh also had a feast there's usually food involved so let's remember this day because it was a good day God set us free let's have some food and we'll have a lot of food and that sort of worked really really well um and so this memorial thing was just sort of something pictorially that when you saw it you would remember the things of God right so um a bit like a wedding ring is a memorial of our wedding you know my wedding day show not our one but you know my my one to Sharon um and so it's a bit like that so the prayers and giving of Cornelius come up as a memorial before God it's like this reminder like God needs reminding like he's going to forget to remain it's just a really interesting sort of analogy that's not the first time it happens when well this is God saw it as a reminder but Daniel other people remind God yeah don't they of things and that's a yeah that blows my mind yeah how do we remind God but it's it's it's interesting how we can build these memorials in heaven with our prayers and our giving um and that I find quite a lovely thought if I'm honest with you um that it's not just sometimes when you pray it can feel like it's falling on deaf ears a little you know like am I just praying into outer space somewhere and it not really working um but it comes up as a memorial before God and it builds this Memorial in heaven and I and it's sort of the whole of Heaven sees it I mean and they remember the prayers and the giving and what you've done and this is what happens with Cornelius and so then an angel sort of comes to see him which in itself is a little bit spooky yes I mean Have You Ever Had An Angel visit you not personally no well no the Bible says we don't know sometimes doesn't it if we're welcome into but I haven't had one that I knew was an angel yeah it would be awesome yeah it's one of those isn't it it says how you've just put that closely sorry there you go uh how you've unwittingly entertained angels so just talk about sometimes how you've unknowingly entertain them uh which is just remarkable isn't it yeah just trying to think about that yeah I another thing that I wrote down was that um somewhere here it's in there dancing it is there and I've only got a few lines someone's tapping away but your questioning is good and if it's right it'll stand up to scrutiny you know we hear a lot about in the news about people's views and stuff yeah but I love that we can question things yeah I love that we can talk about angels and go I don't understand all that yeah I'm sure it's gonna we can talk about it can't we discuss it and we can question it and yeah so it was just a little aside yeah no it's true and I I think it's right and Sharon talked a lot about this um the ability for our faith to stand up to scrutiny uh and to be examined yeah and actually for that not to be a bad thing yeah I think it's quite important um you know she talked a lot about looking at the actual evidence for Faith um because a lot of people don't Christians and non-christians yes uh you know it's just like um I I cannot tell you how many times people have said to me or God doesn't exist because of Science and you go well how does well tell me in science how God doesn't exist and it's like well no it's just it's just a statement that rolls off the tongue and because other people have said it or they've heard it you know or they've heard a well-known person mention it you know God's dead um where he was at Nietzsche God's Dead uh kind of uh statement and so um I think it's an easy thing to to sort of say but again and I think I think this I think this goes the other way as well though doesn't it like Christians will say things yeah and we've not studied it either we've just done the same thing you know repeat repeat things without thinking about what's behind them yeah yeah it's great to it's great to have that knowledge it's great to have those words imparted to us but it's also good to know where that comes from be prepared to question it yeah as well yeah yeah absolutely absolutely so let's dig into this I mean that's all the warm-up yeah it's still the one so let's dig into Sharon's talk a little bit more um living in the thing that I noted down here was uh living in the light of what you have and this is a really interesting phrase isn't it it's living into the light of what you have so being responsible with what you know the the story that immediately Springs to my mind down uh with this is the parable of the talents and uh the parallel of the talents is there's three guys who are given talents from was is basically money right so they were given money um three different lots of them they weren't given the same amount no which is interesting isn't it and they and this was a sort of analogy that Jesus used about the Kingdom of Heaven um and so the the owner God gives people different amounts of money and um is very intrigued by um very intrigued by the amount that they generate with that money like the interest on that payment or the return on that investment in business vernacular which is what I would use row as the return on on uh in my wood but it's that Roi isn't it that return on investment and this is this is interesting because the thing that has always struck me about that Parable is they were all paid different amounts yeah do you know what I mean and so it's like God's it's like God expects different things from different people maybe so living in the light of what you have are you living in the light of what you have what do you think that means yeah I was thinking about that when um Sean was was saying it that some of us have I thought you don't miss the Revelation if God gives us information about stuff let's do something about that so going back to the talents right at the end so one guy gets given is it just one Talent yeah um and he buries it he's like I'm scared of you so at least here you go you got it back at the end and God says or the the the owner that gave him the talent said he could have at least put it in a bank could have done something that got got interest and it's not to deny what we've got and not say well haven't got I've got nothing I can do with it yeah but you have you know God gives you something you could at least give it back you can at least tell someone about it and I'm talking I'm not talking to you out there going I'm talking to me saying you know God's given me things and it's my yeah don't miss that Revelation don't miss don't um Miss what God's given that life that God has given you to yeah to give it back and Cornelius almost he didn't have it direct from God he just had this yeah there's a God out there and he yeah and he dedicated his he did didn't it against yeah against culture against what his Heritage and his job in some ways as well yeah yeah no he did and I mean again that's a sort of one of these points that Sharon made right at the start which was easy to sort of flick over was it actually um Cornelius had seen something in the Jewish people that made him want to go after the Jewish faith and um to go after this unknown God this sort of God which he was searching for because for whatever reason he obviously didn't find it in the Roman gods at the time and so we're searching elsewhere and would pray to the Jewish god which is the same God right um and he would give money and give arms towards the Jewish synagogue and so you're kind of like well this is really interesting isn't it this is really intriguing to me that there was this guy who was outside of what we would call the church community but really we're searching for the god in that was the center of that Community does that make sense yeah really interesting really interesting right what's Graham said here because I've got the comments uh gray I'm living in the light of what you have could be making the most of the gifts talents and skills you have being given using them to help others and not just sitting on them uh yes it is very true Graeme so let me ask you a question right I think it's a great question I'll ask you Dan no okay I ask everybody else um are there any talents gifts or skills that God has given you that you have felt challenged to use for his kingdom and his purposes Joe here's one where perhaps it wasn't much of a gift to start with so I would say I was a bit of an introvert or I'm an introvert I used to be able to I I left University got a job with BT yeah and did like computer consultancy programming type stuff um and I was forced to come out of that before that I could sit in a room and if there's lots of people in that room I'd be happy not talking just sit there and let people talk around me didn't didn't bother me at all you know it wasn't like I wanted to say something just I'd be quiet um and that job forced me into oh no I've actually got to yeah to talk to people and I think God gave me that job I've moved on and I've been able to use that gift that he's nurtured in me and brought out of me to be able to do things like this I wouldn't have been able to yeah speak or something like this or I've been you know giving us talk in church or being abroad on Mission and being able to give my testimony and that was something that God gave me he gave me that gift but it was it was small yeah and it's grown and not even through things that I'd stuff that I was forced into post you know what I mean it was a situation that I I was just in and he's been able to use it yeah for good yeah and I like that he's he's actually changed to who I thought I was yeah yeah that's fascinating so yeah and I I mean I remember the early Den and so yeah getting you to do something like the live stream would have been an interesting thing to do back yeah of Quiet Moments it's really and actually one of the great things I mean I you know for those of you don't know um between the two of us we handle the production of crowd church right so when it's live streaming I mean today we're doing it together I mean because we're just we're like we're going to use a studio for the first time let's get both the tech heads together right let's see what happens let's see what happens but if you're doing it from home as well as hosting you're doing production if I'm doing it from home I'm doing production as well what does that mean we're controlling the live stream we're making sure the videos play at the right time we're trying to respond to comments we're trying to do um all of that sort of stuff aren't we yeah um and so trying to do that and trying to talk and host it's quite it's yeah it's not like it wasn't an easy ask for you Dan was it really there's a deep end yes go jump in there don't go jump in that and so it's been beautiful actually to see you come to do what you're doing now you know to to to to step into this um and I think you do a great job as I'm sure ladies and gentlemen will agree um so nice it's a lovely thing to see that so uh what about you guys out there watching um what talents what gifts has God um giving you what skills that you have been given um to help others I'm just reading Graham's comment here um but you're sitting on them are you living in the light of the knowledge that you have which I think is a sort of the central message of what Sharon was talking about um so the title of the talk is finding God in digital age and one of the things that was said in the comments I'm just going to find it over I'm just going to use it was from Jenny yeah um and Jen is awesome and that's multitasking apparently men can do it yeah we just hide the fact I hope Sharon's not watching this uh so um I was brought to Faith through uh in fact I think I can do this I wonder if this is going to work look at that let's see ladies and gentlemen in fact let me just uh make that look there we go we can make it there we go uh I was brought to Faith through a long conversation with a pastor friend in another country by what's app which is probably a good example of finding God in a digital age which I thought was a very good example it's a really good example isn't it it's a really good example of finding God in the digital age and um we have uh I don't have the I normally have a button which I can press which I've not set up oh hang on there we go if you go to the website I have said it apparently if you go to the website on the screen www.crowd.church or on social media you can reach out to us via WhatsApp you can send prayer requests in you can ask your questions um about faith and about life many of you do um and they actually come through to me on my phone uh just because I love having the conversations we should probably start sharing them out at some point but I've been talking with Jenny and Andy and people like that just all the time which is great you know and this is finding God in a digital age and that wherever you are in the world whatever your situation in life is you can reach out to us you can connect with us and you can find God in the digital agent we would love to help you find him if you're on that Journey uh well we're all on that Journey aren't we wherever you are on that Journey let me just talk to that wrong camera there we go I'm still loading the switches uh so it would be great to help you connect with God uh via the digital Realms so do get in touch with us as you can see on the screen down below you can see the website and the social media handle www um or at Social uh sorry or at crowdchurch on social media so yes just uh plug in that a little bit there so we would love to talk to you the other thing that we do before Matt crew tells me to do it and I'm sure he might have done it actually I've not been checking the comments um oh yeah promote the zoom there's always on it is there always before me so apparently he has told me already to promote the zoom again we have midweek groups uh on zoom using digital technology um if you would like to be part of our online community that meets up during the week where we just get together we catch up we pray uh we just encourage one another and then again let me click the website all the information just go to the website get in touch with us by the website we can send you the zoom link we do use zoom for this at the moment um and you can reach out to us through that as well we would love to connect with you um on the on zoom and they're on Wednesdays at 8pm UK time which is 3 P.M Eastern Standard Time or is it Eastern Seaboard time of those Standard Time based in Standard Time Of course people might make a bit better anyway yeah there's a little link on the website which tells you what time zone it is in your local country because they get confused very quickly very confused anything else from Sharon's talk mate well I think just from Anya who's uh awesome isn't she oh she's a legend yeah I love polish with a slight scales accent it's great if you're if you're listening to another country of America that's some of the worst like that's polish that's not English that's scouse yeah but what she says is are you ready to find God if you don't know Jesus if you listen to this perhaps not live but at another time are you ready to find him and even like we've just been saying haven't we not even through the Bible just cry out to him look at creation and go wow this is awesome yeah who made it and yeah yeah ready to find him yeah absolutely and Anya is that Angus sometimes in the comments of uh crowd yeah I don't think she is today I've not seen her in the comments today but she is in the comments of crowds sometimes as well so Anya if you're watching this you you it gets the right camera you are amazing absolute Legend whichever camera I'm on you're still a legend uh but no it was great to hear her story and I I'm gonna get her to I think I'm gonna see if she wants to do a little bit more actually we'll see we'll see how we get on one thing that I did want to know um if you're watching the live stream and you're at front line this morning we had the Frontline youth takeover so the in-person church we go to in Liverpool uh we had a youth takeover which basically they did such a good job they the youth did the welcoming they did the worship although Josh was up on stage yeah like what are you doing up there you're old man uh they did the worship they did the preach they um were praying for people afterwards um and they did like the whole hosting of the meeting yeah and I thought it was fantastic it's brilliant and the the three um two girls at a a lad um spoke and it was brilliant yeah so clear just yeah I took that in and my um yeah my son and daughter were there as well and they were really yeah really enjoyed it yeah really really connected yeah we were thinking they should take her yeah we're gonna try and get them to take over the crowd I need to talk to Danny about it which would be amazing uh do a crowd take over it says Matt Cruz put in the comments here uh an old Giza was an AV so Matt crew was doing AV which is a beautiful thing so um so yeah you never know we'll get Anya on board maybe get some of the youth on board uh We've we've got some great stuff coming so um just on that site just to let you know what is happening over the next few weeks as we enter the summer uh we're going to carry on our study in the book of Acts in August we have what is called the non-live live stream or NLS ZF is abbreviated with two and all the production notes um and we've got some great talks coming up in August but the live streams they're live but we're not hosting them live okay if that makes sense because everyone's away on holiday that's why we call it the non-live live stream uh so we kind of pre-record them and we published them during August um and then in September we're going to carry on with the book of Acts the reason we do the non-live live streams just to give you a heads up um as we are now in July approaching August uh it's just so everyone can take a bit of a break actually a bit of a breather and everyone can have a bit of time out uh in August with the family which is great what's going put there oh it was all amazing the preach by the three youth was excellent set Frontline yes it was um so really really good so yeah that's what's coming up I think that is uh yeah we give our beloved teams a break says Matt but I'll be in the comments most weeks yeah no doubt Matt crew the top commenter um and so if you want to remove Mac crew from being the top commenter feel the freedom go for it um have a little healthy competition see what happens what are you up to next week um I am I'm doing AV at church I'm doing more Tech more Tech more Tech at church um and I think we go to the beach because we so a front line we every once a month we have something called scattered Sunday which means uh a lot of the groups in the communities go and just do something else um so we're going with a few families fantastic to the beach yeah fantastic I'm just looking at the notes here as you can probably see me uh farting about on the screen uh next week I am hosting with Anna Kettle um is what I'm doing next week as Sharon carries on this conversation about Cornelius so do come and join us for that here at crowd and hopefully we'll be in the studio again because actually Anna does like you just lives around the corner from the studio uh which is a beautiful thing um and so let us know what did you think to crowd in the studio the first Sunday here do you think it went well I actually really enjoyed it yeah it's much easier yeah yeah you realize how Zoom is is brilliant digital Tech like that is great but there's still that something you can't do when you just for this place yeah yeah it works super well and the the ability to have if you got used to because what you don't know we wear these headphones one to perfect feedback um and two just so I can hear what's going on the live stream but it does mean I can hear my own voice in my head have you got used to that I'm getting used to it yeah and it's quite I was saying before one of the things that I do in real life is a trail off my sentences I don't finish questions and when it's coming back in your ears you're a lot more aware of what you're saying and um so it actually actually helps yeah quite like it fantastic I just should wear headphones all day yeah image just walking around with headphones is monitoring what you're saying to people or older you know it could work it could work so Matt says that it went well have a shave though who me or Dan or both I don't know I've just been very lazy this week I have to be honest that's fine uh listen thank you so much for joining us uh Dan thanks for joining me in the studio well it's been great I know inaugural in augrio as I said yes in all Grill isn't it yeah inaugural inaugural our first time here in the studio playing around with the different cameras has been great thank you for joining us thank you for joining us in the comments do make sure if you haven't done this already please like the video as it helps us reach more folks and we just enjoy what we're doing here at crowd church just talking about Jesus and how he helps us live a more meaningful life um and just loving getting in the Bible talking about these different things being challenged and you know hanging out with good mates yeah hanging out with you guys it's awesome so do come join us next week if you haven't done so already like And subscribe hit the little bell notification you'll get to know when we go live or one last time go to the website uh sign up to the email and we send out an email every Sunday letting you know when we are in fact live so that's it from me that's it for me have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world we'll see you next week goodbye thank you so much for joining us here on crowd church now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit 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.crowd.church where you can learn more about Earth 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
