What Does The Bible Say About A Life Of Purpose?

What does the Bible say about A Life Of Purpose_ (1) Matt: [00:00:00] Well, good afternoon and welcome to Crowd Church. My name is Matt Edmundson. Beside me is the beautiful and talented and all round good egg, which is Dan Orange. Dan, how are you doing this afternoon? I'm do Dan: thank you. Yes, very well. Yes. Matt: Good. Did you make it down to the parade? Dan: I did, yes. Got there right at the beginning, so it was really well done. Fireworks. Lots of red smoke. Lots of people. Yeah. Yeah. It should, uh, good luck. It Matt: should be said for anybody outside of the great city of Liverpool, uh, that don't have a clue what we're talking about. Uh, today, uh, there was a parade in Liverpool City Center where Liverpool Football Club was not in the city center. Well, heading down to the city center. Yeah. Headed, headed down there. But yeah, around the city, Liverpool Football Club did their parade. And a whole bunch of people have piled down to it, uh, because, you know, well, why not celebrate good things? And, uh, we're gonna get into that a [00:01:00] little bit today. That was a good segue, uh, actually, uh, into totally unplanned, uh, and, uh, ad lib, but, you know, let's roll with it. Mm. Uh, so that's, um, that's a good, uh, yeah. Segue into today's topic, which is Dan. Dan: What it is purpose? Yes, Matt: it is. What Dan: is your purpose? What is our purpose? Matt: So we're gonna get into that whole thing. We often say that, uh, to Crowd Church is, I almost said Frontline Church. Then, uh, that Crowd Church, uh, is a church for those who might not see the point of church, but it's a place to find answers. It's a place to find, uh, you know, the answers to those questions. That plague is all about meaning and purpose in life, and it's important and you know, why we're here and what we are doing. And so, uh, James Sloan is gonna be sharing with us his thoughts on that very topic in just a few minutes time. So yes, I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Yeah, me too. Yeah, SLO is always good. Very interesting. Sloane is always good [00:02:00] and it is a great topic. So, uh, if you are watching us and you haven't said hi in the comments already, please do so. Uh, it's great to meet people in the live stream. Um, we see Matt Edmundson there. We've got Nicola in the live stream, so good evening everybody. John Farrington's in the live stream. Uh, Nicola Morris. I'm gonna put this one on screen 'cause this is just fantastic. Uh, Nicola says my purpose is to be awesome. Nice. Me. Lucky. Lucky. That should be a t-shirt slogan. Uh, so, um, I like that one. Uh, what's Matt, but for anyone not knowing Liverpool lost in the Champions League final, sorry. Spoiler alert. Yeah. Matt is a Manchester United fan, just in case she didn't know. Uh, and why would you, uh, know that mate is a United fan? Uh, Sharon's in the comments, uh, saying hello. So yeah, if you are with us on the live stream, do be sure to say hi. It's always great to hear from you. And if, uh, you watch this on catch, like I know many folks do and they comment later, then you can [00:03:00] still write comments. Uh, we do respond to them, just not like in the live stream. Uh, but, you know, eventually we, we do get round to it. Uh, so yeah, do uh, do write those. We've got John Frankton, uh, behind the Crowd Church comments. So he's, he's uh, what's the word I'm looking for? Dan Invigilating, is that the right word? Maybe? Yeah. Administering. Administering. Mm-hmm. Uh, I did. John's just dealing with the, with the, yeah. Anyway, John's just doing what John does, uh, which is great. So thanks John for doing that. So, uh, yes. So if this is your first time, whether there's a warm welcome to you, like I said, we are an online church. Uh, we're just here to find out about all the good things that God's got in store for us, uh, through his son. Jesus. We just love talking about the whole topic. Uh, and so we're gonna do that for the next hour. Approximately. Uh, moderator. Matt's put in the comment. There we go. Moderator? Yes. John's moderator. Oh, Dan: yeah, that's the word. Matt: I knew that was a word I was missing. Yeah. Dan: Uh, I had ferling in [00:04:00] my head. Fertile moderator's. Definitely more descriptive. Matt: Yeah. I like Ferling. John Farrington is ferling in the comments. Um. So there's a statement that needs context. If you just joined us, just rewind like 40 seconds and it'll all make sense. It's totally fine. Uh, yeah. Well, welcome to everybody. Now what's gonna happen, uh, during the livestream stay, we are just moments away from Jane Sloan talking about purpose. Um, the talk is actually quite a short one. Stay from Sloane. Um, and after the talk we are gonna have a time of, uh, Prayer for Ukraine and worship. That'll last about, I guess about seven minutes. Uh, Dan will introduce that, and then after that, Dan and I will be back to do what we have affectionately started, well started call. We've always called it Conversation Street, uh, which is my, that's one of my favorite parts of the service where Dan and I will get to chat through James' talk, your questions, your comments, all of those sorts of things. We're gonna get [00:05:00] into it. It's gonna be fantastic. It's gonna be great. It's gonna be awesome. So no pressure, Dan. None whatsoever. Okay. So without further ado, uh, let's get James on the screen talking about what does the Bible say about purpose. Then Dan, uh, we'll be back after this.[00:06:00] James: Today we're exploring a topic that humans have asked for thousands of years, the topic of purpose. On average, we have about 25,000 days on the earth, and we want 'em to have some meaning. So if you google the purpose of life, you'd find something like your life consisting of central motivating aims and some wellbeing phrases that might point you in some enlightenment kind of direction. Um, and that's not to say that there isn't a lot of wisdom out there, and there are plenty of lessons that we can learn, um, and there's lots of kind of general wisdom and some great content. But today [00:07:00] I want to unpack what the Bible says about purpose and how we as Christians. Interpret those scriptures to help shape the lives that we live. We've, um, only got a short amount of time today to really kinda look into this topic, um, and it'll probably really scratch the surface. So I'd really recommend a book called The Purpose Driven Life, uh, by Norther called Rick Warren. It's a a 40 day guide to understanding, um, the biblical call to live out your purpose. I think it sold over 50 million copies worldwide, um, and even been described by Billy Graham as the one book that could guide you to greatness. So, um, well worth a read if you want to explore the topic further, but today we're gonna look at three quick questions. What does the Bible say about your purpose? How can the Bible help you live a life of purpose? And how do you start living with purpose today? So firstly, what [00:08:00] does the Bible say about your purpose? Well, as Christians, we believe that God is the source of our lives. So to discover his purpose, we must turn to His word, not just to the world's wisdom. Now the Bible is full of verses that talk about purpose far more than I could cover today. So I'd encourage you to search for it in your Bible, whether it be a hard copy or in the Bible app, and see which the verses kind of stand out to you. Do some more research and, and look into it further. A key verse for me is in the book of Ephesians, where it says It's in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eyes on us, had designs on us for glorious living. Part of the overall purpose. He's working out in everything and every one. That's Ephesians one, verses 11 to 12. So here we can see, um, a number of things. Firstly, that [00:09:00] identity and purpose come from relationship. Yeah, just like in the same way that I know who I am as a husband and a father through the relationship with my wife and children, that's a context in which I have those relationships which bring purpose. So it's in Christ that we find out what we are living for. Also, we see that God was thinking of us before we even existed. We're not an accident. We are alive because God created us. He designed us and we see that our, our purpose fits into a wider purpose. So the purpose of your life is far greater than your own personal fulfillment or happiness. The book of, um, Colossians of her as further saying, everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. So to understand, um, creation and, and the created, we must understand the creator. That's God and the Bible is, is like his manual for us, for living. I dunno. If you've tried to [00:10:00] build, um, IKEA furniture without the instruction manual, one of those will be flat pack sets that you get. In my experience, it doesn't generally go that well. You see, all those individual parts were created with a purpose in mind, and the person who created them knew the plan to bring 'em together. So he wrote it down. But simply looking at those pieces individually wouldn't help us understand their purpose. But through the instructions from their creator, we know their plan and we can bring about their purpose by bringing them together. So if we trust the word of God, we can trust that God has a purpose for how our lives He created, he designed us and that purpose will be discovered as we live in relationship with him. We were made by God and for God and for me, until we understand that life will never make sense. Later on in the same book in Ephesians that says that we are God's handiwork created in Christ Jesus. To do good works, which God prepared for [00:11:00] us in advance to do. That's Ephesians two 10. Now, that doesn't mean we need to go on some lifelong adventure to find out what God's prepared for us to do. It's not like some kind of wild treasure hunt and wild Easter egg hunt. But instead, we are trusting that God has created us individually with gifts and strength and, and unique characteristics. Characteristics, sorry. And when, when woven together, it creates this beautiful tapestry that we call the church. So when we live in relationship with God and in relation with his people, the church, we begin to understand more of his purpose for our lives. So secondly, how can the Bible, um, help you live a life of purpose? For me, growing up, the idea of purpose was something I was, um, probably quite confused about, um, as a young boy growing up in church. I didn't really understand how God could tell me what to do. How could he speak to me? How could he kinda intervene in my life? I asked questions like, you know, [00:12:00] how could he use me? When would I find out? And what was I supposed to do until then? Was it meant to wait for a, a lightning bolt from heaven, a revelation? And so I'd ask for these questions and come up empty. But in my early twenties, I came across this verse in, in Proverbs, um, it's Proverb 19, which says that many are the plans in a man's heart, but it's a Lord's purpose that prevails. And at the time, I was doing a, um, degree in psychology, um, and I was studying research methods like statistics, um, and learn about the use of outputs and outcomes. Now, if you're not familiar with these two terms, um, outputs often refer to activity, um, like a program or a project. Basically the thing that you did or do, um, and outcomes are the intended results of that activity or act. Um, kind of. Uh, program. So things like behavior change, um, basically what you intended to happen as a result. And I realized at the time that our plans are like our outputs to things that we want to do, [00:13:00] and God's purpose is like an outcome. It's who he wants us to be. And that small revelation meant that I wasn't so focused on what I was doing with my life, um, but more on who I was becoming. So that one scripture put things into perspective and really changed my outlook. Now, of course, we do need to do something with our life. We can't just simply be and, and exist and expect miracle after miracle to happen as we are just so godly and in tune with him. But maybe we've become too focused on our outputs, the things we do, then our outcomes, who we are. So let's just again turn to some scripture for wisdom. One Corinthians um, 10 verse 31 says, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. God loves us, whether we glorify him or not, but his desire is for us to know the fullness of that love, to give him glory, to give him thanks, to worship him. It's what we do in our church services when we gather. [00:14:00] And there's something beautiful about that simple idea of, of bringing glory to God in all we do, every aspect of our lives. Imagine if that was all that we were to focus on. How different would our days and our lives look. So as we learn these foundational steps, take the focus away from ourselves. We grow in maturity and in character. We grow in responsibility and leadership. And God takes us on new adventures. It requires us to focus less on our plans, but to submit to him and seek his purpose in our lives. Often this starts through time reading his word, um, or time in his presence alone or or time with other believers. The Christians you see, God is far more interested than who you are. Than what you do. So the third question was, um, how do we start living with purpose today? Now, for many of us living in Western societies, time is not something we have a lot of.[00:15:00] We expect results quickly, deliveries the next day with our prime subscriptions and often prayers to be answered overnight. Yet the majority of the developing world have more time and appreciate that. Often God works slowly. It's something I've been challenged by, um, many times on my trips to Africa. When we visit the the DRC, I've had to learn to be patient and to slow down to enjoy the process rather than rushing for a result. And we see that throughout the Bible. Things take time. You know, Abraham waited decades for a son. David waited years and years before he became king, and the apostles fought Paul, sorry, spent, um, years in prison or in house arrest. Simply, Jesus was 30 before he did any, um, miracles or performed any signs or wonders. And God's ultimate goal for our life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants us to become like [00:16:00] Christ. And that takes time. And a patient man in the gospels once asked Jesus what was the most important commandment in the Bible? In essence, he was asking, what do I need to do to become more like God? What's the shortcut to being holy? And Jesus said, love the Lord your God with all your passion, Prayer, and intelligence. But there's a second to set alongside it. Love others as well as you love yourself. Matthew 22. So this was far from a shortcut. This was a call to a life of, of service, a life of generosity, and a life of sacrifice. Probably not the answer the man hoped for. And Jesus wants us to give ourselves to him to live in relationship with him, to love him above all else, to love those around us as ourselves. What a challenge that is. God sent Jesus to, to die for our sins, but also to [00:17:00] model a life for us to imitate. If you want to start living with purpose today, then you can start by responding to the call that Jesus made to each of his disciples, A simple call to follow him. The call to say yes to Jesus, to enter into a relationship with him. The call to lay down your way of living and ask for his way of living. The call to surrender your plans and accept his purpose for your life. In the Book of Acts, we read that um, David served God's purpose in his generation. He knew what God's plan was. David. Dedicated his life to fulfilling God's purpose on earth. And it says that God called David a man after my own heart. Now, I don't know about you, but at the end of my life, I don't think I'll be too interested in what other people thought of me, as long as I have brought glory to God and served his [00:18:00] purpose in my generation. So what might God be saying to you today? Who can you connect with to discuss this topic further? Because the Christian life is not one that we walk alone. We do this together, and we'd love to connect with you as you seek to find your purpose in Christ Jesus. I pray that today you will connect with the one who gives you purpose and that you will find the hope, the love, and the joy that comes from discovering what God put you on this planet for. Dan: Wow. That was a great talk by, um, James. So if you've got any questions or comments, get typing them now. Um, and we can answer them a little bit later in Conversation Street. But next we're gonna have a song by Greg. So if you, if you know, sing along or just listen. But first, let's pray. Let's pray [00:19:00] for the Ukraine. Matt: Father God, king of all nations, we cry out to you. Now, for the people of Ukraine, we ask you to rescue those who are vulnerable from the hands of their enemies. That they may live life without fear before you all of their days. Lord, have mercy. Lord of lords and prince of peace. Our politicians are predicting the biggest war in Europe. Since 1945, and we simply cry out to you urgently to write another story in our time. For the dark machinations of evil men give wisdom beyond human wisdom to peacemakers seeking in an [00:20:00] equitable and less violent way. May politicians exercise the wisdom from above, which is peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, and full of mercy. Lord have mercy. Holy spirit, we pray for the church in Ukraine, a nation in which 70% of the population call themselves Christian. Give our many brothers and sisters in that nation courage in this crisis that they may proclaim the good news of your kingdom. Bind up. Broken hearts and bring comfort to all who mourn. Lord have mercy. You Lord, make war cease to the end of the earth. You break bows, shatter spears, and burn shields with fire. And so we ask you now to save the lives of many people in Ukraine. Make a peace that is strong and not weak. Deescalate this crisis. We hear of wars and rumors of wars, but you [00:21:00] Lord are our rock, our fortress, and our deliverer. Our hope is in you. And so we address the nations now in the name of Jesus. We say, be still and know God. He is exalted among the nations. He shall be exalted in the earth. Lord have mercy. Video: God of goodness[00:22:00] only.[00:23:00] Only.[00:24:00] How great you're, how great. You're how great and beyond. How great you're, how great you, how great, how great, how great, how great. [00:25:00] How great.[00:26:00] Only in only in. Matt: Well, there we go. Only in you, Jesus. Do I have it all? That's a very well chosen song. Mr. Farrington, who chose the song for, uh, the Talks Today Only in You, Jesus. Do I have it all? Given the conversation that we've just had with James Sloan? So what does the Bible say about purpose and meaning? Do write your questions, thoughts and comments, uh, in whether you're watching on Facebook or YouTube as I know a bunch of you're watching on YouTube now, uh, uh, do write your questions, comments. It'd be [00:27:00] great to hear from you, uh, your thoughts, your questions, your ideas, uh, in that, as Dan and I are gonna address this whole thing. Uh, and so yeah. Dan, what did you reckon to Slownes talk there? Dan: Uh, I thought it was a, a great talk. Sorry for people looking back and going, was he just, what was he doing over there? I'm just looking at the comments. I'm just ignoring you, but I wasn't, I was Matt: really No, that's fine. You, you just ignore me. That's fine. I just chat to myself. Dan: Yeah. No, I thought it was a great, a great talk. Um, yeah. Uh, I mean, there's lots to pick. Wasn't there? There I like right from the start in Christ, we find out who we are. Yeah. Uh, for us as Christians, it seems easy in a way to just to say that it's like I've, I've found what I want to do, perhaps not. Or the little intricacies, jobs [00:28:00] life, um, how we're going to bring this gospel across how we're gonna just live our lives and be better people and fathers and all that kind of stuff. Purpose, but we know we've got a higher person, we've got a higher power that we can go to. Yeah, that's very true. Mm-hmm. It's Matt: very true. I find it, it's always fascinating you talking to people about purpose. 'cause we do get a lot of people who will message in i I what support email. Um, saying that they feel like life has no purpose for them. Right. And it's the common that I see a lot, um, and, and hear about a lot. So it's great that we could do this talk and like you say, James, straight outta the gate, you can really only find your purpose in Christ. What I find fascinating about this whole topic of purpose is, uh, certainly in the church we talk about purposes as like a catchall term. Do you know what I mean? In the sense that, uh, it can refer to a whole bunch of [00:29:00] different things, and we call it purpose. Uh, God has a plan for you, and it's like God has an overarching plan for your life. He has an overarching plan for the nation, but he also has a plan maybe for this week, uh, which is maybe, Do you know what I mean? It's all these little things are different time zones and different ideas, aren't they, when we think about it. Uh, and so I think I like the, I dunno if you've ever heard this analogy, Dan. I, I love the analogy that purposes a lot like a coin, and I was just frantically searching for a coin in my pocket. But of course, I don't have one anymore because I, I don't remember the last time I had a coin in my pocket. Um, but in England, uh, or in any commonwealth country as far as I'm led to believe, uh, on the back of every coin is the queen's head, right? So the back of every coin. Is always the same. It's the queen's head. Uh, what's different is the color. What's different is the shape and the size. And what's different [00:30:00] is, uh, what's on the front. And I find purposes a lot like this, that for every one of us, there are things which are common to all of us. A bit like the queen's head being on the back. That's the mark of God. Do you know what I mean? And it's kind of like, uh, James touched on it in terms of loving God and loving others. You can't escape that, Dan. Mm-hmm. I can't escape that. Yeah. That's part of life's purpose. It's something that's common to us all. But the front of the coin, the size of the shape and the color for you and me looks slightly different. And that's good because this is where God starts to play into our individual unique abilities. And so people will see that behind you are things to do with gadgets and gizmos, and that's what you do. And Dan: that's, yeah. Matt: And not everybody does that. And that's okay. And you know, the things that God has got specifically for you is different to some, uh, to what God has specifically got for me. Mm-hmm. And sometimes that's where we get jealous, where we get envious. Um, but I do like this analogy of, of, of the coin that actually we all, there are things which are common to all [00:31:00] of us, and it's, it's in understanding that really that we start to understand the other side. And until you understand that it's in Christ, the rest of it kind of always, in my opinion, just remains blurred for people. Dan: Yeah. Matt: Thoughts and comments on that then? Dan: Yeah, I, I really like that analogy because yeah, there is that jump to things isn't there? That like, like saying just purpose, purpose is in Christ. Great, great answer. Easy to say, but we are all different. And one thing James said was that we created, and I like that because there's no chance. Mm. So we, you don't have to worry that perhaps you were the chance, that was just the weird one. You were the chance that didn't have a purpose. Matt: Mm. Dan: God created you. Yeah. So he's got that purpose, and the purpose is in, is in Christ. We can rest in that. But yeah, [00:32:00] the individuality, we can implore him and ask him, you know, what is that for me? What does, what that mean? What am I doing now? What, what can I be doing? Those things are scary but exciting, you know? Yeah. Take us on. Take us forward. Absolutely. Matt: Absolutely. I thought Nicola, per in the comments in the last couple of years, I feel like I've lost my purpose right now. Nicola, thank you for writing this. Mm-hmm. And I would say actually you are not alone because this again, like I say, is a common theme and you tend to see this when, um. When something unexpected happens in life or there's something which kind of punctuates life in a way you weren't expecting. So, um, for example, people get divorced and so it's kinda like I've lost my way or, uh, as Nicholas put here, I used to be able to help people at the drop of a hat and had boundless energy. Uh, but since COVID and the MS I'm finding it very hard to get back [00:33:00] into a purposeful way of life. So here again, you see something just sort of punctuating, uh, with COVID and with the MS knocking us off our stride and we can, and because life is life now is not what it was and we compare, it can feel like that sense of purposelessness. I dunno if that's a word and I don't wanna say it again, but I get it. I do get it. And we see it a lot. And I think for me, the council's always been the same when you don't know what, what's on the front of the coin for want of a better expression. When you don't know that unique thing that, that number that in effect gives that, it's like, you are a temp p you're a 20 p, that identity, you always go back to the head. Yeah. You always go and you start there and you just love God. And I love this whole thing, um, that God, his, what was it He said? Uh, he's more interested in who you are [00:34:00] versus what you do. Dan: Yeah. Yeah. I wrote that down. Yeah. Us not things. It's about, it's about, um, yeah, who we are. Because sometimes for me it was before, you know, perhaps after uni, um, before marriage and like what my purpose would be to me, what's, what am I gonna do as a job? Which is, it's a good thing to do, it's a good thing to have goals and dreams and be able to use your skills. But is my purpose to design cinemas, is that like, is that my purpose or is that my job? And it's just all part of it. All the different things that I, um, know and enjoy can be, you know, helped towards that. But purpose is just, is so much more as well, isn't it? If, if that, if that job goes, my, my purpose hasn't gone, Matt: that's the nail on the head right there, isn't it? Yeah. And again, [00:35:00] uh, when a lot of people retire, it's interesting actually, when I, what does the Bible say about retirement? It's probably a topic we should cover. Um, but when a lot of people retire, you see actually the mortality rate starts to spike. 'cause people seem to have lost their way. They've lost their sense of purpose in life because their identity, who they are, their very purpose in life stems from what they do. And the Christian message is actually, no, no, no, no. What you do comes out of who you are. And let's focus on that First, let's focus on what's common to us all. And so I think, uh, uh, Nicola, that, thank you for sharing And, and for me, that whole thing is when you don't know, when you, when things aren't, aren't quite, just return back to what's the purpose in life that I know I'm to love God, I'm to love people. I'm to, you know, the fruits of the spirit. Video: Mm-hmm. Matt: Go through those, check those off. And in that, and when working through that. [00:36:00] Um, John Gibson said today, he said, uh, at church that, uh, the deeper we gaze, the more clearly we understand and see the answers to life's problems. The more deeply we gaze into Christ, uh, the more clearly the answers become. And I think that is very, very true. Uh, that clarity does come, but it doesn't always come overnight. And that was another thing that James said that I thought was Dan: interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Things take, things take time. Mm. And for me, it has an, um, it's changed as well. And I think because sometimes I thought, well, perhaps my purpose is this. My purpose is my job, my purpose is being a father, purpose is being husband. They're just parts of it. So it's just great to, for that, to expand and grow and use those experiences. Uh, um. For, yeah. [00:37:00] For life and just, yeah. Living, enjoying what, what God has got for us. Matt: Yeah. I, I actually put that verse in. I, I thought it was such a good verse. Um, I put it in the comments, Colossians one 16 for everything. Absolutely everything above and below, visible and invisible. Rank after rank after rank of angels. I love the way the message wrote this. Uh, you can't, that's everything. Everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him. That includes you, that includes me, and that's where we find purpose is in him, and just absolutely concentrating on him. Absolutely. Now, let me ask you a question then, Dan, all of that said, have you ever felt like Nicola, like actually you, you, uh, didn't fully understand what your purpose was? Felt a little bit lost maybe? I don't know. Mm-hmm. Dan: Yeah. In a word, a short answer. Yeah, absolutely. I've, I've had [00:38:00] times, I used to work for a big multinational company and I just sat at work, didn't have any work to do. It's amazing how these big companies, like when you're self-employed, you realize you need to work all the time. A big company, like you can just sit there and they forget about you. Um, and yeah, got depressed and just thought, what, what, what is going on? What is going on in my life? What am I, what am I doing? Um, yeah, I knew that's, that job was where God had put me at the time. Um, but it didn't feel great. It didn't feel a purposeful existence, perhaps. I don't know. Perhaps I took my eyes off guard. Perhaps it was, I can use those experiences now. I don't understand it, but it, yeah, it wasn't easy at all. Matt: So what did you do in the midst of that? Dan: [00:39:00] Talk to people, talk to God, shared, um, and, and just, yeah. Got through it. Mm-hmm. Um, and it was, it wasn't forever. Um, and I do have periods of time even now when potentially you can get waves of that sort of, that nausea, that, that, um, oh, what is it I'm doing coming back? And it's easy to say it now, but I just have to give it to God. I just have to say, here I am, Lord, just help me. Mm-hmm. Matt: Yeah, that's, that's powerful. And interestingly, um, this whole giving things to God like that, there's coming soon, uh, just to give you a heads up, uh, Crowd Nation. Um, there is, uh, a podcast coming.[00:40:00] Uh, we're gonna look, put all these live streams on a podcast. Bizarrely, we've not done it yet, right? But we are. It is coming. Um, in fact, Dan's brother-in-law is helping me out with this. God bless Tim. That's all I'm saying. Cool. Um, and so the podcast is coming now as part of the podcast, we are also gonna do something called Crowd Stories. So on the podcast you're gonna get the live streams, but we're also gonna do something called Crowd Stories, which is where we do a deep, I just basically chat, like say with Dan for an hour about his story. Um. About how he became a Christian, some of the challenges he's maybe faced in life and what his plans and hopes are for the future. And they're just fascinating conversations for now. And one of those conversations, um, was with, uh, Esther Richards. We've recorded it, it's coming out at some point. Esther has been on Crowd before when she talked about trusting Hap what does the Bible say about trusting God? And um, in her talk and also in that story, she talked, um, a lot about this, Dan, about this sort of period of time where it was life was not [00:41:00] going, how it should have gone in her head. And um, you talked about you have to give it to God and she, the language she used, she talks about having to trust God. Uh, and so I asked Esther, I said, well, what does that actually. Mean, because this is a phrase we use, like, yeah. I just have to trust God. And I'm curious to know, uh, before I tell you what else to say. 'cause I thought it was a fantastic answer. Uh, what do you mean when you say you had to just give it to God? Dan: Yeah, I was just thinking then about, um, I think part of it was that I saw, perhaps I saw my purpose as my job and I thought, well, I'm sitting there for eight hours and nothing's really happening. So what was my purpose? Um, but perhaps that time was just time to get to know people at work, get to know friends, get to know relationships. Um, you know, there's, there's people [00:42:00] that I've, there's, yeah, a lovely lady that I knew there at the same time was able to tell her about Jesus. Um, she, she knew what I believed. Um. And she, she passed away a few years ago. Mm. You just think, well, perhaps if I'd had work to do, I wouldn't have been able to share those things with her. Mm. But going back to giving things to God, I think for me it's, it's just resting. It's saying, here I am God. Um, as far as I know, I'm following what you've asked me to do. Mm-hmm. If anything I should be in differently, allow me to do it. Mm-hmm. If I'm walking forward, help me to turn to the left or the right. Don't wanna just sit there and, and get sort of stagnant and not do anything. So, [00:43:00] yeah. My giving it to God is if. If I should be doing something different, do that. Recently with my, um, business, things have changed and had someone who worked for me and that's left and I had to do that exact same thing. That's just to say, God, here's my business. Do it. Shall I keep going with it? Shall I join someone else? Shall I sell it? Shall we go to another country? What, what should we do? Um, but just, yeah, gave it to God. Um, and for me, he confirmed that I was to keep, keep doing that just with different things, people calling me up and wanting work doing, and, and I took that as a, a sign, but it was perhaps giving it to God was just putting my hands out and saying, here it is. Here's my life. Here's what I'm doing. Take it. Make sure I'm not holding onto it. Too tight. Matt: Yeah. That's very good. [00:44:00] And I think there's always this tension. And you, I mean, again, you mentioned it and it is worth saying that if you're wrestling with this whole topic, J, just because you do something for a job does not mean that that is who you are as a person. And God again is more interested in who you are rather than what you do. Yeah. And you cannot measure the value of your life by what you do. Uh, the value of your life is by who you are, and you are a child. A son, a daughter of God, is what we believe as Christians, and the value he places on our lives is infinite. Um, and so our value comes from him. And because we understand that, um, that not only does he give us value, he gives us purpose. He gives us a sense of right and wrong. He gives us a sense of life and meaning and a sense of things to, uh, you know, these are the, the tasks that I have for you. But you have those not to define who you are. You have those because I love you, and that defines who you are, right? And I think that's a [00:45:00] real clear, uh, distinction. What's John put in the comment comments here? The definition of purpose is the reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists. Just emphasizing again, this is not about what we do, uh, but why we are doing it. Uh, what is the motive, what's the reason? That's our purpose. Yeah. Very good, John. Well done. Yeah. Um, I totally agree. Dan: Yeah. And it's so easy to make it about what we do. Even then, when I was just explaining things, I were talking about my work, and it's not about what we do, but that we do. We, we live, don't we? We have 24 data. There's so of time, doesn't it? It it takes time. Yeah. Matt: Yeah. And it's so intertwined in our thinking and separating. It becomes quite tricky. Mm-hmm. Um, and this is why, you know, I like to think of purpose as a bit multifaceted. It's not just a, a single thing, like the coin. There are, there are two sides to it. Mm. Um, and it, it just helps me sort of figure it all out. Do you know what I mean? And, and, and, and get my head around it. So, no, it's all very good. It's, it's not [00:46:00] about necessarily what you do. Now that said, um, I think you can, you can do things out of a sense of purpose. Do you mean out of a sense of calling? Um. Which is another word Christians like to use. Calling there, right? There is another word, isn't it? What's that calling? Um, but it's interesting, isn't it? What do you do? It's that default thing. You know, you go to a party, you've not met anybody for the first time. We had people around last night watching the Champions League final. Uh, and there are people there that never met each other. What's the first question? Yeah, what do you do? What do you do? Because that's how it, in the West, that's how we assign value, right? That's, that's kind of what do you do? We want to know, is your job better than my job? Do you get paid more than me? Is your, Do you know what I mean? Is your life better than mine? I want to know. I want to compare a little bit. What do you do? It's an, it is an easy place to start a conversation, and it's easy to get caught into our thinking that what we do defines us. And actually, that's not true at all. Um, what, [00:47:00] what, what Christ did defines us. And I think that's the fundamental difference. So what would you say, Dan, to someone who, um. Who actually, uh, is struggling to find a sense of purpose and meaning. Dan: Um, I'd say talk to people. Don't, don't keep it in. Um, don't just think that you are the only person in that situation as well. Um, if you haven't, if you haven't got anyone, then put it perhaps not in the, put it in the comments or just message us and there'll be people. Oh yeah, I can put the thing on. There Matt: we go. Dan: Yeah, yeah. Um, drop us an email or message and the people that are happy to just chat with, chat through things with you. Um, but yeah, if you are in that state, like James said, things sometimes don't happen fast, [00:48:00] which is very hard to take. Um, it can be, yeah, really tricky. Come on. Little bit, just a little bit faster would be great. Video: Mm-hmm. Dan: Um, but I always have to go back to, to God and you are created. Mm-hmm. You are created for this purpose. You've created. He knows everything about you. The Bible says he knows how many hairs are on your head. Matt: Mm-hmm. Dan: Uh, if, if he knows that he knows your thoughts, he knows what you're good at, he knows what little skills and nuances and your talents. Um, so you can, you can rest in that. You can enjoy that. Um, uh, and keep praying. That's right. True. Praying. You get up in the morning, let him be the first thing that you think about. The first thing you read or talk to. Mm-hmm. Let that be God. 'cause it, it really helps. [00:49:00] Makes a difference. Mm-hmm. Yeah, it does. Matt: Yeah. It's very true. And the other thing say here, um, is do not let your current state of life dictate your purpose. Now what I, what do I mean by this? So if we, it's, if it's easy to measure our purpose by what we do, um, it's also easy to measure our purpose by how well life is going. Right? Um, and certainly a sense of meaning or am I on the right path kind of thing. Um, and if life is not going well, the first, one of the first things that we sort of question is, well, is am, especially as Christians, is am am I in the world of God? Am I doing what God's got plan? 'cause it's going all very peak to over here. It's going very wrong, and I don't understand what's going on and it's painful. Um, and that's where I think Nicola was earlier. You know, these sort of things, which knock us off our rails. And, um, uh, hi Sarah. Sarah just said hi. In the comments. Hi Sarah. Uh, I think. I think it's easy sometimes to judge our lives by how well things are [00:50:00] going and how well things aren't. And I was reading, um, Frontline's Got This Real Frontline is the church that Crowd is connected to. They've got this really cool journal coming out saying you, if you're part of Frontline, you'll see one more talk about it more soon actually on Crowd. Actually, it's a really good thing. And I was writing a little thing for that, and one of the topics, um, one of the, the ver verses was in the book of Acts where Paul makes this most extraordinary comment. Um, he's, he's sort of, he's let, he's, there's this instant which happens, right? It's just extraordinary. They, him and a chap called Barnabas, which is an amazing though, they get, he gets stoned and dragged out the city and left for dead right Now, I'm not saying whether he was dead or not, I'm just saying he was left for dead. Right? And it's a pretty horrific experience for Paul. So the church gets around him, believers get around him, and they, they cry out to God. And the Bible says that God raises him up. I would like to see this, right? Mm-hmm. Personnel wanted to know what that looks like, but it was sufficient enough for Paul the very next [00:51:00] day to go to a city called Derby, different derby to the one in England. Uh, but he went to a city called Derby. Him, him, and Barnabas. The next day, he didn't take time off to rest. It was, Do you know what I mean? He just went straight at it. Now, um, he gets there, he preaches a message, and everything goes wild and the church starts to grow, right? Just amazing things start to kick off now. One of the things that he says when he's telling everybody about all the amazing things that's going off. 'cause everyone's really encouraged. We all like the good stories. That's amazing. That's great, Paul. Well done. You did great. Me, I'd have probably taken a few weeks off, maybe a few months out after being Stone's death. Do you know what I mean? No. You know, the next day you're off again. And um, he says, he makes this really interesting comment. It's, I'm paraphrasing now, but basically through hardship, the kingdom of God grows. In other words, just because life is hard does that does not necessarily mean we're not on the right pathway. [00:52:00] God is concerned. Doesn't mean that the plans and purposes of God have failed because life is hard. Yeah. And there's a resilience to this that I think is really, really important, especially because it doesn't all happen instantly. Like Dan and James said in our Netflix on demand culture, um. It doesn't work like that where things have got a concern. Uh, and it does require patience because character patience creates character, doesn't it? Yeah. And so we've got to develop the character first, and so things can take a little bit of time. So don't be discouraged if life isn't straightforward. Uh, don't be discouraged if there are some big life event changes like COVID, like ms, like illness, like redundancy or divorce. There is still a place for you and there is still a purpose that God has for you. Yeah. And in the absence of it, just realize, actually return back to basics and just love God and love people and see what [00:53:00] happens as a result. You'll be amazed. I have no doubt. Might take a little bit of time, but you'll be amazed. Yeah, Dan: yeah, absolutely. I think, um, you know, we, we pray for Ukraine before and none of us would want. Would've wanted that situation to happen. We don't, you know, we want it to end, but I know there'll be some amazing miracles and stories come out of that where people have been struggled. They've had the hardest time we could imagine they could have ever imagined. Um, it, yeah. Hard times seems to allow us to rely on God more. We can't rely on anything else. Um, and it, the church in history has grown when things have been hard. Mm. When oppression has come down. Video: Mm. Dan: The church grows. 'cause our, our trust can't be in our, our job or our health or whatever. Um, we have to, [00:54:00] we have to put our trust in God. Matt: We Dan: do, Matt: we do. Very good. And on that bombshell. I end Conversation Street right there. Um, I thought I was, I've really enjoyed this conversation about purpose and meaning, and I feel like we've just scratched the surface of it, that's for sure. Uh, but once again, as Dan said, if you want to reach out to us, if you wanna connect with us over anything that has been mentioned in today's livestream, uh, you can get a hold of us through the website, which is www dot Crowd Church. Uh, you can reach out to us on Instagram, uh, or Facebook at Crowd Church. Uh, and we would love to hear from you. Now, Matt's put here what is happening next week. I actually don't know, Matt, if I'm honest with you. I'm just quickly finding out. Uh, I know that there's a live livestream. Uh, I, I did know this, but it's completely slipped my head. So, uh, what is happening next week? What does the, okay, it's the big one next week, ladies and gentlemen, what does the Bible say about God? [00:55:00] What does the Bible say about God? Uh, and we have the fantastic Dan Rogers, uh, preparing that talk. And John Harding and I will be hosting, uh, that's a mammoth topic, isn't it? What, yes, the Bible will say about God. Uh, that's gonna be hard hit in the week after that. Talking to hardship. We've got what the Bible will say about suffering, um, uh, suffering and hardships. John Harding is doing that talk, uh, and myself and Anna Cat will be hosting that. So we've got that coming up, uh, the 12th of June, and then Pete Farrington on the 19th of June. What does the Bible say about Jesus? So we have got some meaty ones coming up. We've got the big ones. Yeah. Yeah, the big ones. Towards the end. We are coming to the end. Just so you know. To spoiler alert, we are coming to the end of, what does the Bible say about series? We are gonna be running this through until the end of August, uh, first week, September, end of August, somewhere around there. In September, we will be [00:56:00] starting, um, a new series in John's gospel, which will take us up to Christmas. We're gonna have the Christmas thing, and then 2023. We are going into a deep dive into the Book of Acts, which is the first book in the New Testament that talks about life after Jesus ascends. To heaven, right? So the gospels all talk about the, the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ. They all tell the story of when he was down here. Then there's this one day Jesus is like, I'm outta here. There he goes. And the Book of Acts kind of picks up from that point. And so it's what happens in the very, very early days of Christianity and it's one of the most extraordinary books, uh, in the Bible. I'm super pumped and excited about it. Um, so yeah, just a little spoiler alert, so that'll be very good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It will. In fact, you are back. I'm just looking at the calendar now. On the 19th of June, Pete Farrington is doing the talk on what the Bible say about Jesus thing, you and I hosting. Oh, okay. Cool. Dream [00:57:00] team. Dream team. Uh, as they say. Uh, so yes. I hope you are enjoying this. What does the Bible say about series as much as we are? Um, do make sure you like and subscribe, uh, to us on social, like Instagram or, um, uh, what's the other one? Facebook. Facebook. That little. Yeah, that little. That little social media. That little social media platform. Yeah. Uh, or on YouTube. And you'll get notified whenever we go live. You can come join in the conversation. Always great to hear from you. Uh, and thanks for your comments. Today, we are gonna close today's service with another worship song. Uh, once the song has finished, uh, the livestream will automatically end. But feel free to hang around, um, say hi to folks in the comments and do all of that kind of good stuff. Uh, but yeah, from, well, from myself. Uh, thanks for joining us. Dan. Any final comments? Dan: Thanks for joining us. Yeah, I've just got written at the bottom of [00:58:00] my notes. It just says, follow him. It says, tip. Bother him. It's great. Yeah. Matt: Top advice, top, uh, absolutely. Uh, Matt Crew put here. Congratulations against Elle Madrid. I need to have a conversation with Matt Crew. Yes. Okay. So, uh, God bless you. Have a fantastic week. Wherever you are in the world, wherever you're watching this, uh, we pray that you encounter God, uh, in all that you do. Whether you know him or whether you don't, uh, give him a shot. Follow him. You'll be amazed at what happens. Uh, thank you so much for joining us. We'll be back again next week for another live stream, uh, on what does the Bible will say about God. Drum roll please. Uh, so that's it for myself, from my and from Dan. Uh, God bless you all and bye for now. Good night.[00:59:00]