Overcoming Adversity Part 2 - Face the truth and stop living in denial | Mark 11:20-26

Face the truth _ Overcoming Adversity _ Online Church Livestream Matt: [00:00:00] Well, hi, and welcome to Frontline City. It is Sunday afternoon and we are streaming live from a very sunny. Liverpool. That's right. It's great that you [00:01:00] are here. It's great to be here. We are on, uh, we are online 'cause we are an online church. And for those of you who don't see the point of church, well this is, this is why we do what we do. Right? So we can help you know more about Jesus. Kind of try and figure out how he helps us live a meaningful life. My name is Matt Edmundson and I get to lead and pastor this amazing online church. It's just the sign of the time, isn't it, that we are indeed, in fact, in an online church now. It doesn't matter where we meet, it just matters that we get together. So really, really great that you are here with us. Thanks for joining us. Thanks for taking time out of your Sunday afternoon to be with us. Great to see you. Now, I know many of you watching this are new to Frontline City, so just to give you a bit of context, we are part of Frontline Church and we're, which is based here in Liverpool, England. Um, and we're just a group of guys that just wanna inspire you about Jesus and how amazing he is. It's as simple as that, right? So please feel at home with us. Uh, there's no [00:02:00] expectation on you or any of that kind of stuff. Uh, but if you are watching this live, you can join in using the comments below. As I see some of you already have started, uh, just let us know what you think, ask your questions, debate, join in, why not? Uh, just do it all respectfully, right? This is a safe space to explore the Christian faith. So do come, uh, and enjoy what you are doing by commenting. And if you are watching the replay of the live stream, you can also still use the comments as we do monitor them. 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So make sure you like, comment, and, uh, join in the conversation. And if you're happy to do so, why not share out the live stream too? 'cause it, it's really great. It helps us reach out to new folks, um, around the world when you share and when you like and when you comment, it tells Facebook and YouTube. If you're watching the YouTube stream, actually this content's all right, so do get involved. Now let me tell you what is coming up in today's live stream after this. Welcome. We will jump straight in today's talk, which is all about. [00:04:00] Overcoming adversity. Do you remember we started this little mini series last week called Overcoming Adversity? Well, that was part one. This week is part two. Oh, yes, we are gonna get into that. We are gonna carry that on. And that is all about facing up to the truth and facing up the I'm I'm gonna stop now 'cause I'm gonna get off on one. Anyway, we've got that in just a few minutes after that. We have got a brief time of worship, which Sharon is gonna talk more about later. And then we will have this week's catch-up video, which I know for many of you is your favorite part of the week. Uh, and it's gonna be good, uh, 'cause again, I've seen it beforehand. Josh has done a cracking job again this week. Uh, and so we're gonna finish probably around 45 minutes to maybe an hour, somewhere around there. Uh, and for after this live stream, for those of you who'd like to meet up, I've posted a link. Zoom where you can join us. Um, I, I, I posted two links in Zoom for some reason it's the longer one that you need, not the shorter one. The shorter one doesn't work, but the longer one. Yeah, that does work. So come, uh, [00:05:00] come join us on Zoom afterwards. Okay. So let's see what we've going on. Sharon says, hi. Now Sharon actually is not in the house. Uh, Sharon's my wife, by the way, if you dunno, um, she is out in the car because such is the power of joining on livestream. You can now do it in your car on the mobile phone. Oh, yes, but she's not driving. We're safe. So, you know, don't panic. There. Josh is here, which is great. Um, Matt Crew is here, fell asleep during part one. Is that, 'cause you were watching it at like two o'clock in the morning or something you wrote on YouTube, right? Something like that. I can't remember. Anyway, it's great that you're here. Great to see you. Uh, thanks for commenting. And now without further ado, because you know why Wait, let's jump straight. Just jump straight in. Right? Let's jump straight in to the talks. I'm gonna roll the little intro and I'll be back when it's finished.[00:06:00] Okay, so last week we started off our miniseries on overcoming adversity, and we discovered two key things, right? Number one, why positive thinking actually isn't all that powerful. We kind of looked at why being positive is okay if your core beliefs are right, but if they're not optimism, positive thinking. On its own is largely ineffective in the long run when it comes to overcoming adversity, simply because it does not deal with the root of our beliefs or our thinking, [00:07:00] which is a very nice segue into number two, right? The second thing we discovered last week is you have to deal with the root first. You know, we've called this miniseries Overcoming Adversity because simply that resonates with people. It's easy to understand, but I think more accurately, we maybe should have called this series Uprooting Adversity, because what we're talking about here is actually uprooting the obstacles that are in front of us now. We saw that last week with the fig tree, and next week we will see that with a mountain. That's next week. So if positive thinking isn't actually the answer to overcoming adversity, what is, and what is Jesus's strategy here, right? We're looking for those answers. Uh, so what are they? So that is what we're gonna get into this week. But before we do, let me tell you about a sauna. Now, I [00:08:00] know many of you are new to this channel and to this live stream. So big welcome. It's great that you are here. Uh, so let me tell you a story about me and about a sauna that you probably don't know, right? Um, you see as well as pastor our online church, which I love and is amazing. I also spend a lot of my time running my own companies. And one of the questions people often ask me is, how did I get started in the world of business? Well, if I trace it back, there are some key major events on my journey, which kind of have led me to this point, right? We've all got these big turning points in our history, and for me, one of them has to do with a sauna. Or more accurately, I should say, a sauna company. Right? You see, I started working for a, a, well, I started my working life working for a friend of mine, a chap called Simon o Shawnessy in a sauna company that he owned. And what we did at the time was we imported saunas [00:09:00] from Germany and installed them here in the uk. And he was actually quite a fun job. I, I loved it. I enjoyed working with Simon. I had five fabulous years there, and it was brilliant, right? But, but towards the end of that time, Simon decided, you know what? He was gonna sell the business and move onto a new challenge. Fair enough. All power to him. But what was I gonna do? Well, and I appreciate this may sound a little strange, uh, if you are new to this feed, but I actually thought God was telling me that he was gonna give me the sauna business. I was so convinced of it that I even went off to the bank to see if I could borrow the money to buy it from Simon. But you know what? That never came off. Um, and it was sold to somebody else, and if I'm really, really honest, the new owner and I, for whatever reason, didn't get on and I ended up leaving that business. So here I [00:10:00] am. Convinced that God was gonna give me the business, but now I'm unemployed. And top it all off. Our first child, Josh, had just been born. It was a crazy time. Right? Uh, and you know what? I, I, I had a new baby and no money. I had to do something. So that's when I set up my own business doing digital stuff. And you know what? I had to confront the fact that my. What my core belief was, right, uh, what I thought would happen, what I was in faith for was very, very different to the facts of the situation that I found myself in. They were, you could easily say polar opposite to each other, right? So, uh, so here God's gonna gimme the company. Here I am not even working with that company. How's that gonna work? And more importantly, what has that got to do with Mark's gospel? Because this is what we're looking at, right? And Jesus's [00:11:00] strategy for overcoming adversity. Well, good question. Let's find out, shall we? So let's pick up the journey in Mark chapter 11 verses 20, and we're gonna read through to 26. Okay. So now in the morning as they Jesus and the disciples pass by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter remembering said to him, rabbi, look, the fig tree, which you cursed, has withered away. So Jesus answered and said to them, have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, be removed, be cast into the sea and does not doubt in his heart, but believe that those things he says will be done. He will have whatever he says. Therefore, I say to you, whatever things you ask, when you pray, believe that you receive them and you will have them. Okay, so in this lesson, right in this passage of scripture, Jesus's first response is absolutely the most critical part of it, right? [00:12:00] And yet it's the simplest, it's the most simplest of instructions and it's easy to read and sort of flow with and maybe even skip over. But actually it could, you could argue it's actually quite hard to do. Right? And the, and Jesus said it right here at the start, have faith. In God, right? It is as simple as that. Now, you know what? I read a lot of books about how people become successful. I've seen a lot of quotes on Instagram from people wanting to gain success. And you know what, uh, one of the most common beliefs. Um, to gain success, to get there, if you like. That I hear is this phrase, have faith in yourself. Believe in yourself. If you can put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything. Video: Wish I wasn't so scared, George. There's nothing to be scared of. All it takes is a little self-confidence. You know, if you put your mind. You can accomplish anything. Matt: And whilst I think there is some element of truth, [00:13:00] uh, to what Marty McFly was telling us, and whilst I wholeheartedly believe that it is important to have a healthy, balanced self-esteem, you have got to agree. There is a slight difference between this thinking and what Jesus said, right? So Jesus said, have faith in God. Marty McFly tells us to have faith in ourself. You see the difference, right? Have faith in God, have faith in yourself. One is you identifying the root and pulling it out by yourself, and that is really, really hard, especially as the obstacles get more and more complicated. Uh, the other is God helping you, you doing it, you know, giving you the aid, his insight, his strength, and that becomes a lot more doable, doesn't it? And this is important, uh, yes, believing yourself, but believe in God first, right? Because fundamentally, you and I are flawed human beings. We're gonna mess it up. We're gonna make the wrong decision somewhere [00:14:00] somehow. Trust me. I know, right? And we talked about this in part one. Uh, you and I are humans. And humans are messy, unpredictable, reckless, limited, and well, a little bit selfish at times, right? But God isn't. He's infallible. He's a, he's in a much better place, uh, and he's actually a much better place to put your faith. He's good. He's sure. He is steadfast. He is faithful and loving and powerful. He is everlasting. He's joy and peace. He is wisdom. He is kind and he is for you. He knows you inside and out and wants what's best for you, and he knows how to get it to you, right. He has a plan for you. So it makes much more sense to put your faith in God first. And this is also true, right? When it comes to people, um, I think you can put your faith in others, uh, like the government and the, the doctors and your teachers, uh, [00:15:00] your friends, your spouse, your partner, right? Your family, but putting your faith in God. Doesn't mean that you can't put your faith in yourself or other people. You can't. It doesn't mean you can't put faith in doctors and medicines and take all of that sort of stuff. That's not what we're talking about. I think that's error, but we have to put our faith in God first. Now, the AA realizes this, how do you break the addiction of. Well, you simply realize that in yourself, you do not have the power to do it. You've gotta realize that in yourself, you are an alcoholic and you need help from a higher source. Now, we may not be alcoholics, we may be faith in faithing. We may be facing something a lot less severe, which is why it's easy to put faith in our own abilities and skills, isn't it? It's easy for me to put my faith in my entrepreneurial and business skills. But fundamentally, we are flawed human beings, and it's the reason that Christ died for us. It deals [00:16:00] with all of our mistakes and free us to live this God inspired life, to live our fullest life, to live a meaningful life. And it's an amazing story of his faithfulness. So this is step one, right? Put your faith in God. Put it in the right place. Believe him. But how much faith do we actually need? Do we need big faith? Little faith? How much is he enough faith? Well, Jesus tells us the answer to that question too, which is great. Uh, in Matthew 17, verse 20, Jesus said, truly, I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain. Okay. That's, that's all. That's all we need is a mustard seeds worth of faith. Uh, because ultimately this is not about you. It's not about how much faith you can muster. It's not about what you bring to the table. Fundamentally, this is not dependent on the size of your faith. But just faith, right? And it's dependent on the grace and love of Almighty God. You [00:17:00] just have to believe with simple, small mustard seed type faith, and that is where it starts. Now, sure, your faith will grow over time, but this is where it starts. You just need that tiny bit of faith in God, right? But what if we don't have faith? Well, again, the Bible helps us here too. Hebrews 11, verse one says that faith is a substance of things hoped for. In other words, we simply start with hope. We hope that the future can and will be different. We hope that we will come through COVID-19 stronger hope that we can still have and enjoy life despite the cancer diagnosis. Hope that tomorrow or next week or next month, we'll somehow despite it all. Be better and the rainbow will shine and God will lead us into the next chapter of our life. You see, hope is where we start and that hope becomes the mustard seed of faith that we need. [00:18:00] Oh, I love this. You might tell I love this because it takes the pressure off, right? I have faith in God, but I only need the smallest amounts to get started, and then God's grace and power helps me with the rest. That's a beautiful thing right there. Right? Okay, before we go off, uh, let's figure out what's next. So step one, have faith in God. So what else did Jesus tell us to do? Well, in Mark chapter 11, again, it says, Jesus answered and said, have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, okay, now. Let's talk about this for a second, because in the explanation that Jesus gives, he doesn't tell us to speak to a fig tree. He tells us to talk to a mountain. Now, why a mountain? I think it's because it is the biggest thing on earth that we can see. It is so big that we as humans. Well, we're, we're not gonna have any impact on it, are we? We, we can't destroy it. Right? We just can't do [00:19:00] that because, well, it's too big. It's colossal. And you know what if, um, if I see like a small mound of dirt in my garden, I know. I can move that. Right. Give me a shovel, give me an hour of time. It's gonna be moved. And that's easy. Right? And as messed up as I am, I can believe in my own ability to move that thing right? But this is a mountain, this is something colossal. It is gigantic. And I have no way of moving this. Not even with dynamite, right? It is. This is an act of God to move this thing, and this is important because when we have faith in God, the mountain to him is like the small mount of dirt in my garden to me. What is gigantic to me is microscopic to God. And what Jesus is saying here is when you have faith in God and not just in yourself, the scope to overcome adversity, to [00:20:00] uproot adversity is mountainous. I mean, that's. That's, that's full on right there, right? And so Jesus says in Matthew 19, verse 26, you know what? With men it is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. So with God, the impossible becomes eminently possible, and that is a. Awesome. Oh yes. We believe in a God that is not passive, that does not change lives, and that does help us move mountains, overcome adversities, and have life in all its abundance and I love it. Now, I. Before we go too far back down this road of faith, because this is such amazing stuff, I do wanna notice a subtlety here, and this is point number two. So point number one, have faith in God. Point number two is this. Acknowledge the mountain you see, to speak to the mountain, to cast it into the sea. You first have to acknowledge its presence and this. If I'm honest, I think [00:21:00] is one thing that we are not good at doing, especially as men, right? We ignore the mountain, we pretend that it is not there. We never acknowledge that thing whilst we kind of live our lives permanently in the shadow of it, right? So we come up with sayings like believing yourself. Chin up, keep calm and carry on. Uh, and we use them as excuses for not actually looking up and acknowledging the mountain and realizing that by ourselves we've got no chance. And that I think is, is probably one of the key reasons we don't acknowledge it, isn't it? Because it by ourselves we can't do anything about it. And it kind of exposes us our weaknesses, our our humanity. And I think this can be a really hard place to come to. I certainly, I find it, I dunno about you. Right? And it can be even harder if you don't have faith in God because life then becomes hopeless. We talked about hope earlier. And you know what, I see [00:22:00] hopelessness on a weekly basis. I see men with a mountain who have become hopeless and it is an awful place to be. Trust me, I, it's horrific. Right? But, and if you are going through that, please hear me. Uh, I, I see it. I know what it's like. There is hope in God. There is always, always hope, uh, especially, you know, in COVID and what we're going through. Things can change and will be different, right? Because if I add faith in God into that equation, it changes. Everything. And I mean everything. I can acknowledge the size of the mountain, but I also believe in something that is so much bigger and so much more incredible than that mountain. And that is Christ himself. And this is not hopelessness. It is in fact the exact opposite of hopelessness. It is full of. Because I know that things can and will change. It is liberating. It is exciting. It is overcoming [00:23:00] adversity and really starting to live that meaningful life that we all desperately want and believe God for right now. Let's talk about something called the Stockdale Paradox. Okay? 'cause this came to mind when I was prepping this message. Uh, it's something that I mentioned a few weeks ago when we looked at this idea of who encourages you to do stuff that scares you right now. Admiral James Stockdale was a prisoner of war during the 19 65, 19 73, right? Uh, during that time, he was tortured over 20 times. He was regularly beaten. He lived. Uh, he lived out the wall really without any prisoner's rights and no release date and no reason to believe that he would ever see his family again. But he did get released and author Jim Collins, uh, in his book interviews, him, uh, interviews Admiral Stockdale about his time in prison. Right. How did he survive? How did he overcome? [00:24:00] Well, what is such a hopeless obstacle? And stockdale's answer is extraordinary, right? And just watch what he says because you're gonna see this in the words of Jesus. He said, I never wavered in my faith. Not only that I would get out, but that I would turn it into the defining event of my life, that in retrospect, I would not trade. I mean, wow. Uh, wow. Right there, right? So just like Jesus Stockdale talks about the need to have faith, and Jesus talks about having faith in God, this unwavering faith that you can and will ultimately prevail and it will turn out to be the defining moment of your life. And. Don't get me wrong. This is not a, a formula for just having the perfect problem free life. No, no, no. This is how we overcome adversity. This is how we conquer it. That's how we, we get through it. This is how we prevail. This is how we make adversity, these defining moments [00:25:00] in our lives. This is not some weird utopia where we live in this. Bubble of perfect harmony and health and wealth. Oh gosh, no. That's not, that's not what this is all about. This is about getting into the trenches, facing the mountain, and overcoming it. Uh, with God's help. That's what this is about. So Collins right then goes and asks him about those that didn't survive. And this is, I thought was a fascinating question, and Stockdale replied and listened to this. He said, oh, that's easy. It's the optimist. The ones who said, we're gonna be out by Christmas, and Christmas would come and it would go, and they suffered from a broken heart. I mean, wow. Right Now, interestingly, Viktor Frankl noticed something different, uh, something different, something similar. He noticed that a lot of people in the concentration camps, of which he was a prisoner, uh, in during the war, um, he was in the concentration debt camps and he noticed that a [00:26:00] lot of people died around Christmas. He believed that they had such strong hope that they'd be out by Christmas, that they had simply died of hopelessness when that, which is odd, isn't it? You start out with hope, but it didn't happen, and it becomes hopelessness and it's what kills them. And you know what Frank will called this tragic optimism, which I find fascinating again. So we're gonna tie all this together, but before we do. I just wanna draw out this, this similarity of Christmas, right? I find this fascinating because Christmas, for a lot of us is a time that we just want to get to because things will be different after Christmas, right? Uh, COVID will be over by Christmas. This is a kind of thing that we're thinking, right? But Stockdale said to the prisoners in, in that camp, you will not be out by Christmas Now, deal with it. Confront the facts. Acknowledge the mountain. Right? Because we are feeling it as [00:27:00] a nation because COVID hasn't met our initial positive thinking outlook, has it? No, no, no. We were all like super positive at the start. Okay, this is for a few months. By September, school will start and everything will be fine. It isn't fine, it just isn't. And. It hasn't, the circumstances definitely haven't matched that positive outlook. Um, it's just different, right? And this is, this is interesting because we said right at the start that the power of positive thinking isn't all that powerful. It's what we looked at last week. Call it optimism if you like, and it works on a surface level. And if you experiences don't match what happens, it ultimately leads to hopelessness. That's what both Stockdale and Frankl saw in those prisons, right? Optimism on its own. Can lead ultimately to hopelessness men dying of broken hearts. And we see that with mental health now with COVID, right? It is massively declining and our services, our health services, are totally stretched as a result because it isn't about [00:28:00] positive thinking. It's about faith. That deep, unwavering faith mixed with the ability to acknowledge the mountain to go, you know what? We're gonna deal with this, but we've gotta face what's going on in front of us. And after his interview with Stockdale Collins called this confronting the brutal facts, right? So you need that faith, that strong and wavering faith that is so much deeper than optimism. It is a belief that is at the core of you. But why faith? Why do we need faith? Well, I think faith is. Is the only thing that's strong enough to confront the brutal facts. When you're optimistic, you tend to ignore the brutal facts saying, I'll just, that, that'll change. It'll be different, right? So optimism kind of puts 'em to one side and Do you know what I mean? They, they, they, they just kind of go over there. But faith doesn't do that. Faith doesn't get derailed by the facts, and it is strong enough and secure enough to confront them and deal with them head on. You will not be out by Christmas. Deal with it because [00:29:00] that is what faith. Does. Right, and it's all here in this passage with Jesus Frankl and Stockdale and Collins all stumbled across this truth that I think has been around for thousands of years. If you want to move the mountain, you have got to move past optimism. You have to develop faith in God, and you have to confront that mountain. So. I hope you're getting this right. So what has all this got to do with my sauna story? Just bringing it all back together. Well, I am glad you asked right now. I had my unwavering faith that God was giving me this company. Okay, now I am gonna talk more about this next week. How did I know this? I appreciate it. Can sound a little bit crazy, right? So tune in next week as I, it is gonna be some more good stuff, right? But for now, I was sure I was unwavering in my faith. But I also had to acknowledge the brutal facts. I didn't own the company and I wasn't given it, it was [00:30:00] sold to somebody else. I didn't buy it. Right. Um, in fact, I didn't even work at that company, but I had faith in God, but I had to acknowledge the mountain. Okay. And so I just, I don't know how to explain to you, but I just for years had this unwavering faith. That somehow God was gonna do something. But I also confronted the facts. I also dealt with the here and now. I started a different company. I built that I had to create income. Right? So let me close this story for you, because five years later, the German company that we imported the saunas from came to an end of the contract with the chap that purchased it and they decided they didn't want to renew it with him. Right. This was nothing to do with me. This was between them, so they called me, the German company called me and asked if I would be willing to get back involved. What do you think? I said, right? Sure. I was waiting for that call, but it was five years later and in the end I prevailed and I didn't have to pay a single [00:31:00] penny to get it now. God did indeed give me that company. It just wasn't instant. And I went on to run that business for several years with some incredible people as a result, right? It's. I, I know this stuff works out. It is good stuff. It turns out that Jesus was right all along. And you know what? There's more but more on that next week because we're gonna have the third part in this miniseries, and I cannot wait to get into it as we're gonna look at Prayer and all that kind of good stuff. How do I know what God is saying? How can I have this Video: faith? Matt: Well, there you go. What did you think that we'd love to know your thoughts. We'd love to know, uh, what your takeaway was, what you got outta that talk, what really spoke to you? What was, what was your key takeaway from that particular talk? Right? We always ask this at the end of every little talk we do. What did you get out of it? If you can write it in the comments, uh, or send us a message on WhatsApp, we'd [00:32:00] love to know, um, because we. You know, it's good to hear this kind of stuff encourages me, but it's, it's also quite a tricky thing, isn't it? You've, you've, basically what we've gotta do is face up to the challenge that's in front of us, but trust that God is with us in it. And, uh, well that's kind of the story of life, isn't it? Unfortunately. Well, fortunately, maybe is a better way to look at it. Um, so yeah, so what did you get out of it? What was your main takeaway? Would love to know, uh, what you thought to that. Now, if you are a regular of city, you will know at this. Point we are gonna go into a, uh, worship session. Normally after this, we, we give a little bit of time to worship. And just give a little bit of freedom just to sort of think about, uh, the talk and the words of the song, um, and all that sort of stuff. So I'm gonna bring on, I'm just gonna click this button here. I'm gonna bring on my beautiful wife who is gonna explain to us about the worship. So, uh, let's get ready for this. Video: Thanks for that, Matt. Now we've reached the part [00:33:00] of the live stream where we play a song and sometimes the songs we use are to help us to talk to God and to worship him. Sometimes the songs we use are ones that, um, help us to speak truth over ourselves, and today's song is one of those, it's called Overcome and the words of the song, they remind us of how God broke into history and came to earth as a man and died on a cross. To pay for all this, the wrong stuff that we've done to remove that barrier between us and God, and how he then rose again so that we can have new life. But it also speaks about that, how that same God is with us in our present situations and how he's gonna come again in the future and put all things right. So if you are a Christ follower, uh, you can take this, uh, opportunity to sing along with the song, or you can just sit quietly and think about the words. If you're not a Christ follower, but you really want to [00:34:00] know God, are you there? And if so, who are you? Then use this opportunity just to say to him, look, God, if you are there, show me and, um, show me if you are the person that Matt's been speaking about and who this song is speaking about. So let's listen to this song now. Now the darkness fades into newbie begins as we lift our eyes to hope or creation weight within Expect. Expectation to declare the rain of the Lord our God. We'll not be when the earth gives way. [00:35:00] Father is, and for every, there's an gray. Now the silence brains in the name of Jesus as the heavens cry, let the earth respond or creation shalls with the voice of triumphs to declare the Lord God. We when gives. For is overcome and for everything. There's ant gray [00:36:00] for the is a warmth is overcome. He shout, rain strong surrender for the. You can be against us. Jesus. He is Lord, and he has, he shall our God. He has, we'll not be new when the earth gives way [00:37:00] for the, and there's an. We will not be blue. When the earth gives way for the is a mark is overcome. And for every fee there's an empty gray for the is a walk is the one. Matt: What a fab track that is. And, um, you know, John, uh, Frankton did that track for us this [00:38:00] week. It's a track to go with this overcoming, uh, adversity series. Um, because you know what, it's, it's such a powerful truth, isn't it, for every. To, uh, the, for every hard time we go through the, I love that phrase. There's an empty grave and it's just, wow, it's just fantastic, isn't it? And this, this, the understanding that actually, you know what, whatever life throws at us, whatever's in front of us, we know we can face it with him. Because he had to face and endure the most extraordinary of events and the most extraordinary of times. And because of that. We know he can sympathize with us and empathize with us, and we know he's got the power and strength to help us. And, and that's just remarkable, isn't it? It's absolutely fantastic. Um, and that is the empty tomb. And, uh, that is just, well, it's great. Love this kind of stuff. So next week, uh, we are gonna be carrying on this little miniseries [00:39:00] and we are gonna be talking about part, we're gonna have part three. Uh, as I mentioned, um, and we're gonna just rack on with this whole type of thing 'cause there's so much in this little passage here that can really, I believe, can really, really help us and just transform everything. I saw it myself with the Sauna Company and Matt, I saw in the comments you put, it's gonna take you a long time to get that image outta your head. Apologies for that. Uh, but I've seen it myself many, many times and I know this stuff works. It's um, it's just how good. God is, uh, so what's Matt put here? Main takeaway. Learn to sit where, let me add this to the broadcast. Learn to sit where God needs you to sit so that you can slay that mountain. Um, such as rubbish data, signal streets. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Matt. Go, go. Learn to sit in a different place. Because then maybe you get the message, there'll be, there's a sermon in that you know all about, do you remember the old radios that used to have the antennas and you had to have them in a certain location or the TVs? I [00:40:00] dunno if you ever did the TV thing with a coat hanger in the back, or whether that's just me and you know, people of a certain age and you had to have it in a certain location, uh, to make it work. And so, um, you know, when you try and hear and tune into the voice of God, we, we've often used this as an analogy. We have to be in the right place anyway. We're not talking about that today. Uh, but I appreciate that comment. So, um, another thing that we wrote in the comments here actually was this thing about loneliness. And loneliness is, is such an epidemic at the moment. And we now have a minister of loneliness in this country, which I just find utterly extraordinary. Um, in the most connected time in which we live. We're connected, but we're not really connected. Uh, and COVID has done nothing but probably cement that. That kind of separateness, hasn't it really? And so if that's you, uh, then I pray for you. I pray that you understand and find the peace and comfort of God. 'cause it says in the Bible that he puts the lonely in families. That's what he does. And uh, that will be my [00:41:00] Prayer for you. Now, one of the things that we do like, um, uh, defo had the TV single issue. Yeah. Matt, you're also showing your age, bud. I'm just saying. Just saying. Um. So one of the, uh, one of the things that we want to do on this live stream is just give you the opportunity for Prayer request, right? So, uh, when we see the story of Jesus and the life of Jesus, he would often go into the towns and the villages, and he would teach and he would tell stories and he would, um, just inspire us, you know, with his words, which is. What we're hoping to do with the message is we sort of share that with you in the life of Jesus. But the other thing he always did was he demonstrated you know, the kingdom of God and by, by praying for people. And so if there is anything that you would like Prayer for, if there's anything that you are struggling with or just would need some Prayer coverage for, then you can text that WhatsApp number with your Prayer request. I appreciate you don't always wanna put stuff in the comments and that's fine. Uh, because that's public. The [00:42:00] WhatsApp comments will be kept. Private. Uh, so just text us and let us know. And there's a bunch of folks back here who will be willing and more than happy to pray for you and just get alongside you. So, uh, you know, you've, it's the inspiration with the demonstration. And so let us help you and you don't have to be a Christian at all to get Prayer requests. Just let us know what it is and we will happily pray. So, uh, just get in touch with that WhatsApp number. No other side messes me up every single time. I should remember, point to my left shoulder. Um, okay, so now, uh, let's crack on with ketchup. So Josh has done a catchup video for you this week. Let's roll vt. Josh: Hello and welcome to this week's Sunday Catch up. For those of you who dunno me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh Edmundson. I am a core member of the team here at Frontline [00:43:00] City, and I'm also a second year technically student at the University of St. Andrews studying theoretical physics. For those of you who've never watched this part of the stream before or who've just never watched the stream before, in general, really catch up is the part of the video where we get to see what other members of the community have been up to during the week. We do this just so we can get a feel of what everyone else has been getting up to now in typical fashion. I will kick it off with what I've been getting up to this week. Uh, there was. There was what interesting thing happened this week? Bear with me one moment. You see, I've started actually writing down what I do in the week now because I kept, I just kept finding that they were merging into one and I couldn't remember what I was doing. Oh yeah. Okay. So this week me and my flatmates watched a movie together. It was. First film night, which was really, really good fun. And the movie choice was interesting. I'd never seen this before and I know it's, it's a bit of a classic for a lot of people. And the [00:44:00] movie was Mama Mia. It was, it was, um, it was different. That's, yeah, it was, it was different. You know what, I love Colin Firth really do, but singing is not really his strong suit. Anyway, that's enough for me. Let's get to the other Catchup videos. And I must say we have got a good lineup this week onto the videos. Matt: Sign is well on the way. So this is Zoe in our happy place, and here's the finished sign. Video: So I'm about to [00:45:00] make a cushion cover for this from this. So let's see how it goes. Josh: Wow, Zoe. I love the sign. Now we just need the wardrobe. Do you fancy making that as your next little project complete with magical, far away land inside? That would be pretty impressive. Zach, sorry for, for taking the wetsuit. You look, you look pretty cold. Mona, that Bonoff Pine looks amazing. Kind of gutted that I'm not at home right now to try it. Mum, fantastic job on the cushion. Looks great. And those beans, those beans are huge. Thank you for sending in all those videos. They were great fun to watch. Really love what everyone's been getting up to. If you would like to see your video featured on ketchup, please send in any videos of what you've been up to during the week to the WhatsApp number that you will have seen. On the bottom of the screen throughout the service. I'm sure my dad will point it out to you when we get back [00:46:00] into the main flow of the stream. We love watching what you guys have been doing. We love watching all the videos that you send in. You know, please, please, please do send in those videos. It would be very much appreciated. And that's all for me. Thank you very much for watching. I hope you have a fantastic week. We'll see you next time. Matt: Well, great. A what did you think to that ketchup? Always love watching the ketchup and, uh, seeing what folks are doing. And let me tell you, the banfi pie I tasted, it was just extraordinary. And Zoe did a fab job on that sign. We had a good crack doing that yesterday. Uh, and that is getting ready for Halloween. It is, and you'll probably see more videos coming up, uh, as we start getting a bit crafty around the Christmas season in our household. Oh, yes, we do. So, uh, as Josh said, if you have a video that you wanna send. You see that I got it. Point towards your left shoulder. Send it towards [00:47:00] this number here, the WhatsApp number. Send in that video and we will put that here as long as it's decent and in order, obviously, uh, we will put that in the Catchup videos. Um, it's like Josh said, it's always great to see what people are doing. So do send that along. Fab, fab, fab. Uh, so what's Mona put here? The pie was great. Wish you were here for it. Josh. No. Let me write Oh, bless. Wish you were here for it, Josh. Uh, it's a shame you won't get any son. Just saying I'll have your bit, but do get a haircut though anyway. I believe Matt has actually tagged you with a post, um, with his, uh, if you, if you've not seen the comments, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. Matt has decided to set up a new business, basically reminding people to get haircuts. It's, um, it's just the way it's gonna be from now on. So, uh, I think that is pretty much. It's from the Frontline City Livestream Studio. Thanks for joining in this week with us. As usual, it has been fab to see you. Uh, great that you are here. Uh, the, oh, the other good news is Zach is now warm. If you saw that video where he was absolutely [00:48:00] shivering, he, um, yeah, he's, uh, he decided yesterday he wanted to learn to do cold water swimming. Don't think he'd be doing that again in a rush anyway. Uh, he's back, he's back to normal. Now, uh, what's my put here? It's a miracle that I pointed in the right place. I know left shoulder right, distinct myself, left shoulder, because if I look at the screen, it's my right shoulder and it messes my head up every single time. Anyway. Uh, I think, I think we've figured the pointing thing out enough. At least I'm hoping that's what we've done. So wherever you are, whatever you are doing this week, have a fantastic week. Uh, and I pray the grace of God will be with you and that you would know him in everything that you are doing. As I said, if you have any Prayer requests, send 'em to this number here and we will happily pray for you during the week. Um, and, uh, just get in touch with us. It'd be great to connect with you. Always great to meet with new people. Thanks for all the emails. Uh, they've been lovely. And we will see you again next week. 4:00 PM here, live streaming. Oh, yes. As we carry on our Overcoming Adversity series. You [00:49:00] don't wanna miss it. No, no you don't. Now come, uh, so do come and join us. It'll be great to see you. Thanks watching. Bye for now.