Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? | Mark 10:32-34
23 August 2020 · Matt Edmundson
23 August 2020 · Matt Edmundson
The journey with Christ doesn’t always feel safe. There are times when we have to confront the reality of what is in front of us, and we need people to help us find the courage to face our fears. In this weeks message, we look at a pivotal point for Jesus and the disciples. They are about to enter some dark times. They don’t feel safe, and they are confronted with the overwhelming reality of what is about to happen. Do they face their fears? Or do they walk away?
01Where we are up to?
We’ve been working our way through Mark’s Gospel - and really this book is a Chronicle of the earthly life of Jesus, and it hones in specifically on that part towards the end of His life. And we've been following the story - the journey that Jesus has been on, the journey that the disciples have been on and the journey that everyone else has been on.
And so far, it has been an amazing story. It has its lows, sure, and it has it’s highs. We’ve regularly seen the miraculous, we’ve seen Jesus transforming lives, setting people free. We've been privy to some very private conversations that Jesus had with folks including prayers and conversations between Jesus and the Father.
It’s been incredible and exciting and educational. It's been challenging but also filled with compassion. But now we come to a really interesting turning point in the story.
We are starting to head into the final week of Jesus’ life. They are leaving their home town for the last time, and they are going to start towards Jerusalem. It’s a pretty long journey that they are going to take. So let’s read about this turning point.
“Jesus and his disciples were on the road that went up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them forward. The disciples were filled with wonder and amazement at his bravery, but those following along with them were very afraid. As they approached the city, he took the Twelve aside privately and told them what was going to happen. “I want you to know that we are going to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the ruling priests and religious scholars and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Romans. And they will mock him, spit in his face, torture him, and kill him, but three days later he will rise again.”
-- Mark 10:32-34
Jesus and his disciples were on the road that went up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them forward. The disciples were filled with wonder and amazement at his bravery, but those following along with them were very afraid. As they approached the city, he took the Twelve aside privately and told them what was going to happen. “I want you to know that we are going to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the ruling priests and
So there are a few things that I want to draw out of this passage.
The journey with Jesus is not always safe. We read that right at the start...those following along were very afraid. It’s not always safe...which leads me to my next point, a question that arises in my head when I read this...
Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? And this is a really important question - one that we will get into a lot today.
Confront the brutal facts...but I want to add a little twist to that…but we will get to that in a little while...
02The journey with Jesus is not always safe
Jesus and his disciples were on the road that went up to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them forward. The disciples were filled with wonder and amazement at his bravery, but those following along with them were very afraid. Why were they afraid? What was it that was scaring them? Well, one of the things that we have seen in Mark is that Religious leaders at the time would often confront Jesus, and try and trick Him. This wasn’t always pleasant for disciples. But, in some respects, it was manageable. No one really likes confrontation, but if it’s manageable, we do it.
And one of the things that made it manageable was the fact that these confrontations often occurred in the small towns and villages…where very few people importance lived.
But now they are on the way to Jerusalem. And that’s a whole different ball game. And the disciples recognise that they are going to be confronting a whole different level of aristocracy. It’s like they are going from the minor league to the major league, or as we would say in the UK, going from the championship league to the premier league.
On top of that, there was a belief at the time, a tradition if you like, that there would be a terrible war preceding the final establishing of the Messiah’s Kingdom in which the aristocracy in Jerusalem could prove to be as evil as the Romans.
They believed that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah and they believed that He would establish a new Kingdom as a result of being on earth.
So there is going to be confrontation, between good and evil and even the people that belong to their own tribe could turn on them. And on top of that we have the Roman Garrison to contend with - and they weren’t known for their compassion.
So they were afraid, and understandably so.
When we journey with Christ, He can often lead us to places that are scary. And that’s OK and it’s right.
To quote Rocky, that well known sage, “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows, it’s a mean and nasty place”. And it is. And Jesus doesn’t take us out of it.
He puts us right smack into the middle of it.
He might send us to places that are dangerous. He might call us to places that are not safe. And that’s OK. Safe is not a sign of the blessing of God. Don't get me wrong - this is not a license to be reckless. God is not a reckless God. But there is a strong chance that life will not always be safe, it will not always be comfortable - and you know that? That’s OK!
And it’s OK because He is with us in the midst of it all. The irony being, of course, that this makes it the safest place to to be!
03Shakleton’s ad
There is a story surrounding the famous explore Ernest Shackleton. He’s a bit of a hero of mine, and he needed some men to join him on an expedition- so an advert appeared in the newspaper - it read:
Men wanted for hazardous journey. Low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in event of success.
If you are new to Christianity - let me tell you that the call to be a Christ Follower could follow the same idea. And I wonder if Shackleton got the idea for the copy from this piece of Scripture? It follows the same outline.
We are going on a journey - there is a mission. It’s going to be dangerous and stuff may well happen. But the rewards are something else.
Jesus is taking the disciples to Jerusalem. It’s a dangerous place for them to go, and they know it. Then Jesus starts talking about being tortured and killed. It’s gonna kick off. It’s gonna get dark. But you know what? The rewards are something else, because three days later he will rise again - which literally changes everything.
Can I just say to you watching this - if life is safe and predictable, if it has become routine and the adventure is missing, if you have moved from the city to the suburbs maybe literally maybe metaphorically, then maybe, just maybe we need a bit of Shakleton thinking? Because the Jesus we follow likes to mix things up every now and then.
I think Christianity is a dangerous adventure. And if you are new to the Christian Faith, if you are new to the very idea of the Christian Faith, then let me tell you - it is the greatest thing in the world, but it is going to take bravery and it is going to take courage from you. ** Are you up for it?**
04“The disciples were filled with wonder and amazement”
There are some intense emotions going of for the disciples right now. These are grown men, logical men. Practical men. They’ve seen some amazing things in the last few years. Yet, at this specific point in time they were also afraid. But at the same time as being afraid, they were filled with wonder and amazement.
And that’s a really interesting juxtaposition to be in - and one we can often find ourselves in as Christians. The adventure may be dangerous, but at the same time you are filled with wonder and amazement. And this is the healthy balance when it comes to doing stuff that scares you.
You can’t just have the emotion of fear. I don’t think that is a healthy place to be at all. And, if I am honest, it doesn’t make sense. Yet - I know that I can be scared, and be in situations that are well out of my comfort zone and still be in awe and wonder and amazement of Christ, for what He has done and what He is still doing in my life and in the world around me.
Essential to being able to go places that scare you for the sake of His Kingdom is the corresponding awe and wonder of Him. You should never separate the two. Which is why it is so important that we have people in our lives who encourages to do the stuff that scares us.
And one of the ways they encourage, is to make sure that we are in awe and wonder of Him!
05Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you?
Let’s define this a little - what does encouragement mean? When you encourage someone, you give him or her the courage or confidence to do something. Encouragement is about building courage. It’s about bravery. It’s about confidence.
So who builds courage in you? Who helps you to be brave? To take a risk?
In the Bible, there was a church in Thessalonica - which is in modern-day Greece. They needed courage. They need to brave because it was all kicking off for them. So Paul, one of the guys that started the church, sent a guy called Timothy to do just that. You see, he knew they were struggling so he sent an encourager called Timothy. You can read about it in 1 Thessalonians 3:1-5.
06Who is your Timothy?
The church needed someone to encourage them. They needed Timothy. Who is your Timothy? I know if you are Christian watching this - you could say that Christ is your encourager. And He is. And that’s wonderful. But I believe God also sends people into our lives to encourage us.
Paul didn’t just tell the Thessalonian church to pray more. He sent Timothy. We all need an encourager - even if you are a Christian - someone that encourages you so that you are not shaken by the storms of life - that encourage you to stand and to take ground even when it scares you?
Who is builds courage in you? It’s a great question isn’t it?
Picture them in your mind now. Thank God for them. And if no one comes to mind, ask God to send someone to you. Maybe that’s one of the reasons you are watching this? Connect with what’s going on and be encouraged.
For me there are several people that I immediately think of.
My mum. She’s always encouraged me. Her methods maybe a little unorthodox for the the modern era - but you know what…they worked. I started to get bullied at school, so mum packed me off to Judo school to learn how to fight and stand up for myself. If I went to Judo competitions, she realised that if I was in my usual, laid back, chilled out mood - I wouldn’t really care. So she would get me angry, she would make it so I cared. And you know what - when she did, I won.
Mum has always been an encourager to me.
I think about my amazing wife - my CEO - my Chief Encouragement Officer. Most of the scariest things I have faced in life, I have had to face since being married. There was marriage itself! I didn’t know if I could do it. I screwed up every relationship before hand, so my track record wasn’t great. Then we started to plan for kids…oh my goodness! I hear a lot of stories from folks about how their Dad wasn't great. I didn’t want to be that Dad. I didn’t want my kids to have to sit in a meeting and talk about how much I screwed their lives up. Then there was setting up my business - and we set that up just after Josh was born, and we had no money and Sharon had stopped working to look after Josh. That was scary. There have been several times on that path where the business has almost gone under, where I had no idea how we would meet payroll that month, where I have had to confront people, I have had to let people go, I have lost good friendships and faced a lot of difficult decisions. I have had to turn down work when I needed the money. I have had to pray when the needle was on empty in the car and didn’t have the cash to put petrol in the tank.
The journey has been nuts and scary - but in all of that Sharon has been my Chief Encouragement Officer. She has built courage inside of me, courage to keep going, courage to trust God was in it and working and courage to change and grow and develop as a character.
Sharon is the most encouraging person I know. She tells me to go for it. She prays for me. She’s got my back.
I think of Tony and Anni Uddin who have had to face difficulties and trials that many of us as spared from. Tony was who I talked to about marriage. He was who I talked to about business. Recently, there were a couple of tricky situations that I was facing. I talked to Tony. He gives me his wisdom and encourages me to go for it.
Dave Connolly encourages me. John Harding encourages me. I could go on and on - I am incredibly blessed because there are a lot of people around me that encourage me, most of whom I don’t have time to list as we would be here all day.
So who encourages you?
07Do what leaders do
More importantly - who do you encourage? Because that is what leaders do. We spend most of our time building courage in others to keep going.
I think of Moses, one of God’s champions that is talked about a lot in the Old Testament and in the Jewish faith. He was one of God’s leaders…and God tells Moses to encourage and strengthen Joshua - the guy who is fast coming through the ranks to lead God’s people through the next stage of their journey - and Moses’ job is to encourage him. You can read about it in Deuteronomy 3:28.
Who are we encouraging?
Sometimes that’s walking with people through some of the most difficult situations they will face. Often though, it is the small, unseen things.
I think of my friend, Al Marshall…a super encourager. He sends me text messages, as I know he does to many people, just saying that He is praying for me, God is with me and to keep going. It encourages me.
Who are we encouraging? Who are we building courage in? Who are we sending text messages to telling them to keep going?
I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
— Nelson Mandela
When we encourage someone - we are not trying to hide or disguise the fear - but we are there to help people triumph over it, to help those that feel afraid for whatever reason, to conquer that fear.
And this leads my nicely to my final point of the day: confronting the brutal facts.
08Confront The Brutal Facts.
You must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time, have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
— Jim Collins
In leadership - this is the balance that we must hold - that we can and will prevail, but also confront the reality of where we are at. Churchill was great at this during the war. He had an unwavering faith that is for sure. During some of darkest times, he wrote:
We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime. From this, nothing will turn us. Nothing! We will never parley. We will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land. We shall fight him by sea. We shall fight him in the air.
— Churchill
So he believed we would prevail, but at the same time - He was fastidious about making sure he was given all the facts, no matter how bad or how dark. And this is important because, according to Collins, one of the single most de-motivating actions you can take is to hold out false hopes, soon to be swept away by events.
We face the fears, we don’t pretend that there are not there. Nor do we pretend that the consequences are not real.
Let’s look at what Jesus said to the disciples.
“Jesus took the Twelve aside privately and told them what was going to happen. “I want you to know that we are going to Jerusalem, where the Son of Man will be handed over to the ruling priests and religious scholars and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Romans. And they will mock him, spit in his face, torture him, and kill him…””
-- Mark 10:33
Here, Jesus is confronting the brutal facts. He is letting the 12 know what is going to happen. And it’s not pretty. Jesus is going to get tortured and He will be killed. Talk about confronting the brutal facts. In fact, you could say that Jesus is brutal in confronting the facts. There are no holds barred.
And we must be the same. For ourselves when we face things that scare us. And for those that we encourage. We have to be real. We have to confront reality. But at the same time - we need an unwavering faith that we will prevail.
And here’s the amazing thing about Christianity, about our faith in an unwavering God, and about the hope that we have - as bad as it gets, as dark as it is going to get, we can prevail because of the work of Christ.
If you read what Jesus said to the disciples and just leave it there, it feels final. It feels hopeless. He tells them it’s going to get bad, it is going to get dark, it is going to get evil and ultimately, he tells them that he will be killed. That’s dark, really dark.
But that’s not all that Jesus tells them.
Look at what He says after that:
“...they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Romans. And they will mock him, spit in his face, torture him, and kill him…but three days later he will rise again.”
-- Mark 10:33
That’s the hope that we have. As bad as it is going to get - there is resurrection. Even death can’t defeat Christ. He confronted the brutal facts, be He had an unwavering faith that He would prevail, even in the face of death.
And because of that, because He went before us and conquered the grave and defeated death, we can have that hope too.
Now remember that, for the disciples, this hasn’t happened yet - there is only the fear of it happening. They are at the start of the journey - on the road. And it is a scary place to be. The truth is, as we will see in the coming weeks, that it is going to get much much harder for them.
The could turn around now. That’s always a possibility. There will be times that they wished they had turned around I can tell you. But I admire them, because they didn’t.
And this call of God, this journey that we are on, this adventure that we are living will be, at times, a scary road. We are going to have to deal with fear. We are going to have to face them. And we need people along side us, people that will encourage us to keep going, to confront the truth of where we are heading to but at the same time, encourage us and strengthen the unwavering faith in us that we, through his grace, will prevail.
If you are exploring the Christian faith, and think that it is irrelevant for your life today, I hope you can see from the passage today that it couldn’t be more relevant? I hope you can see, how in one short story at the turning point in the story of Christ, there is so much wisdom we can use in our own lives, there is inspiration and encouragement for us?
But if that’s all it was, then the Bible is nothing more than a self-help book full of principles that we can use. But I think it is more than that and I think that there is more to this than that.
It stops being a self-help book when Jesus took this journey and died on the cross. It has to be more than that. It’s about the truth that Jesus came to earth as a man, a God man, to encourage us, to build courage in us, to do do stuff that scares us, to believe in Him, to Hope in Him and follow him on this great adventure and let me tell you He is worth following because he thought that you were worth dying for.
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Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you_ _ Church Livestream Matt: [00:00:00] Well, hello. It kind of died there at the end, didn't it? Hello. Welcome to Frontline City. It's great that you are here. Give me a thumbs [00:01:00] up, gimme a shout out. Uh, let me know. You can hear me. That's first and foremost. Um, I hope you are having a good Sunday, wherever you are. It's great that you could join us, uh, here on, lemme just move that camera. There we go. It's great that you can join us here on, uh, Frontline Cities Sunday Live stream. Woo. I hope you are having a good Sunday, wherever you are, wherever you are in the world. Uh, and I hope it's going well for you. Uh, it's been fun. Just enjoy the comments in the warmup actually. Uh, let's see what we've got going on here. Uh, Zoe and Sharon say hi from Jersey. Yes, they do. So if you don't know me, my name is Matt Edmundson, Sharon and Zoe. Sharon is my wife, and Zoe is my daughter, along with my son, uh, in Jersey. Uh, I'm broadcasting here from liver pool. And I am, uh, I guess I, I run Frontline city, um, and we are a digital church doing stuff online. Just bring in, you know, just celebrating the fact [00:02:00] that we're. Join our Christian faith here online. So it's great that you could join us. If this is your first time here, a big, fat, warm welcome to you. It's great that you could join us. Uh, great that you can be here with us. Uh, we, we just wanna do church and we wanna do it differently, and we hope you enjoy it, uh, as much as we enjoy it as well. So, uh, as you will see from the comments, people do comment and if you, if you want to, if you feel able, if you feel free, do comment. Give us a like, give us a thumbs up and all that sort of good stuff. Be great to hear from you. Let us know you are here. Uh, we've got Abby, uh, hi Abby. We've got Matt Crew, obviously, um, who says I've got 10 seconds to sort my hair out. Um, and then replies, he can hear me and I need to buy a comb. And so, um, all I'm saying is Matt injuries, uh, they don't prevent, uh, a cartwheel video. That's just, just what I'm saying. Josh is here. Are you gonna see a [00:03:00] bit more from Josh in a second? So, a big warm welcome to everybody. Like I say, do join in in the comments. So, as I said, my name is Matt, a big warm welcome to you in that corner. Let me see if I can get this. There we go. That corner. It always confuses me with the, anyway, 'cause the camera mirrors it. Uh, in the corner we have the phone number, which is the WhatsApp number. So that's how you can get in touch with us. Give us a WhatsApp, um, or you can write in the comments. But on WhatsApp, why don't you take a photo of wherever you are right now, how you're watching the, uh, online service and send it in. It'd be great to see it. It'd be great to see what you guys are up to. I always enjoy it when you, uh, when you bring stuff in on the WhatsApp. So, uh, make sure you do that and you can contact us through that number at any time. Uh, it'd be good to see it. So let me play this little clip. So like, comment, share as I've said. Uh, make sure you like, give us a thumbs up. You know [00:04:00] what, the more you like it, the more you comment on it, the more people we reach and connect with. It's just the way Facebook algorithm works. Um, and so, uh, do join in. Do join in the conversation. We, uh, we do enjoy that. So, uh, let's do the kids bits. Let's play the nice little kids video. There we go. Now, uh, for the amazing kids that we have, we need you to go to the website as usual, uh, Frontline City. You can see it underneath my name in that corner that look at that, oh, almost. There we go. Uh, you can see the website there. Just head on over to the website and hit the, uh, let me show you. Actually, I think I can do that. Here we go. You can just head on over to the website. Hit the online church service page. This page will come up. Uh, there's my beautiful self. Head to the kid sheets, download and click on the download there and you can get the sheet, uh, and join in with [00:05:00] us and just, just let me see what's going on. Color your sheets. Send kits, send 'em to me using the WhatsApp, uh, number. Just take a photo, send 'em in. You know, the usual rules, the usual rules apply if you've been here before. Um, if you are here for the first time with your kids, every week, we put the sheets online and have been doing for the last few weeks. Um, and the kids can just sort of join in and partake and, uh, we love to show their stuff up at the end of the service. So that is that. Now. I am gonna do something a little bit different this Sunday because you know what? I can, and we like to do things a little bit differently. We're gonna experiment. What I'm actually gonna do, uh, now, is I am going to run the talk that's right, we're gonna do the talk a little bit earlier, and then after the talk I'm gonna do the usual notices and we will also do catchup. And it's, let me tell you, Josh said this week's catchup is the best one he has ever done, right? So Catchup is where [00:06:00] we get to see your videos and the stuff that you've sent in. And so Josh was pretty pleased with this one, let me tell you. So that's definitely worth hanging around for. So we're gonna do the notices, we're gonna do catch up, we're gonna do all the comments and get involved all after the talk. So we're gonna get into the talk a little bit earlier this week, so hopefully you've got your notebooks ready. Uh, because we are gonna get into this one. And it's actually me. Uh, prerecorded. I decided to try prerecording it rather than doing it live. Um, and do let me know what you think. Do you prefer it live? Do you prefer it prerecorded? But it'd be good to know. Uh, but we've prerecorded this week's talk and the title of the talk is who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? And we are gonna carry on our conversations in the Gospel of Mark. Uh, if this is a first time with us, um, we have been working our way through the gospel of Mark, one of the gospels in the New Testament, which kind of chronicles the life of Jesus. We've been [00:07:00] working our way through that book, and it's been an amazing journey and story. Uh, and we're gonna carry on that today. So let me run this and then I'll be back. After I've finished, you'll see me again in a little bit. Uh, but let me just play this video. Now we've been working our way through Mark's gospel and really this book is a chronicle of the early life of Jesus. And it hones in specifically on that part towards the end of his life. And we've been following the story, the journey that Jesus has been on, the journey that his disciples have been on, and the journey that everyone else has been on, right? Including us. And so far it's been an amazing story. It's has its lows, sure. But it also has had its highs and we've regularly seen. The miraculous. We've seen Jesus transforming [00:08:00] lives, setting people free. We've been privy to some very private conversations, uh, that Jesus has with folks, including prayers that he prays between Jesus and the Father. It's been incredible and exciting and educational. It's been challenging, but also filled with compassion. And now we come to a really interesting turning point in the story. We're starting to head into the final week of Jesus' life. They're leaving their hometown for the last time and they're gonna start heading towards Jerusalem. And it's a pretty long journey. Uh, it's gonna take some time to get to there. Uh, but, but you know, that's what's gonna happen, right? So let's read about this turning point, and we're gonna be reading from Mark chapter 10, verses 32 to 34. Now, Jesus and his disciples were on the road. They went up to Jerusalem and Jesus was leading them forward. The [00:09:00] disciples were filled with wonder and amazement at his bravery. But those following along were very afraid. As they approached the city, he took the 12 aside privately, uh, and told them what was gonna happen. I want you to know that we're going to Jerusalem, where the son of man will be handed over to the ruling priests, the religious scholars, and they will condemn him to death and hand him over to the Romans. They will mock him, they will spit in his face. Uh, they're gonna torture him and kill him, but three days later he will rise again. There's a lot there, right? So there's a few things that I wanna draw out from this passage. Number one, the journey with Jesus is not always safe. And we read that right along. We read that right at the start, right? It says that those following along were very afraid. It's not always safe. Which leads me nicely to my next point. Uh, a question that arises in my head when I [00:10:00] read this. Uh, and that is this, who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? It's a great question and one that we're gonna get into a lot today. My third point, as Jim Collins, author of Good to Great Wrote, confront the Brutal Facts, but I'm gonna add a little twist to it, but we're gonna get to that in a while. Okay? So let's jump right in. Let's get going with this. So, Jesus and his disciples are on the road that went to Jerusalem, and Jesus was leading them forward, and the disciples were filled with wonder and amazement at his bravery. But those following along were very afraid. So why were they afraid? What was it that was scaring them? Well, one of the things that we have seen in Mark is that the religious leaders at the time would often confront Jesus, and they would try and trick him. And this wasn't always pleasant for the disciples. Uh, but in some respects it was manageable. No one [00:11:00] really likes confrontation, if you know what I mean. Uh, but if it's manageable, we do it. And one of the things that made it manageable was the fact that these confrontations often occurred in the small towns and villages, right, where very few important people lived, but now they're on their way to Jerusalem. And this, let me tell you, is a whole different ball game. The disciples recognize that they're gonna be confronting a whole different level of aristocracy. It's like they're going from the minor leagues to the major leagues, or as we'd say here in the uk, they're going from the championship to the Premier League. Right? And on top of that, there was a belief at the time, a tradition, if you like, that there would be a terrible war proceed in the final establishing of the Messiah's kingdom in which the aristocracy in Jerusalem could prove to be as evil as the Romans. That's bad, right? I mean, they believe that Jesus was the Christ. They [00:12:00] believed he was the Messiah, and they believed he would establish a new kingdom as a result of being on earth. So there's gonna be this massive confrontation between good and evil, and they can feel it coming, right? Uh, and even the people that belong to their own tribe, according to their traditions, would turn on them. And to top that off, we have the Roman Garrison to contend with. And they weren't always known, uh, let me tell you, for their compassion, right? They just weren't. It just, it's just not what happened with the Roman garrison. So they were afraid and understandably. I think I would be too. Uh, when we journey with Christ, he can often lead us to places that are scary. And you know what? That's okay. And it's right to quote Rocky, that well-known sage. The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a mean and nasty place. Yeah. I dunno why I did that accent either. But it's fun. The world ain't all sunshine and [00:13:00] rainbows. It is a mean and nasty place. That's what Rocky said, right? Uh, it is. It is. And Jesus just doesn't take us out of it. That's the whole point about Christianity. He doesn't take us outta the world. He keeps us in it. He puts us right smack into the middle of it. He might send us to places that are dangerous. He might call us, uh, to places that are not safe. And you know what? That's okay. Safe is not a sign of the blessing of God. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not a license to be reckless. Uh, God is not a reckless God, but there is a strong chance that life will not always be safe. It will not always be comfortable. And you know what? Like I say, that's okay. And it's okay because he's with us in the midst of it all. The irony being of course, that this is going to be the safest place on Earth, but more on that later. Now let's talk about earn Shackleton or earnest Shackleton. Should I say? He was a bit of a famous [00:14:00] explorer, wasn't he? He's a bit of a hero of mine, and he needed cement to join him on an expedition. So an advert appeared in the newspaper and it read men wanted for hazardous journey, low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness, uh, and safe return. Doubtful honor and recognition in the event of success. Now, if you are n Christianity, let me tell you that the call to be a Christ follower. It could be the same idea. And I do wonder if Shackleton got the idea for the copy for this ad from this piece of scripture. 'cause it follows the same outline. We're gonna go on a journey. It's submission, it's gonna be dangerous. Stuff is gonna happen. It could be dangerous, but the rewards are something else. Okay? Now Jesus has taken the disciples to Jerusalem. It's a dangerous place, uh, for them to go and they know it. Um, Jesus then starts talking about being tortured and killed. It [00:15:00] is gonna kick off. It's gonna get dark. But you know what? The rewards for this are something else because three days later, he will rise again, which is gonna literally change everything now. Can I just say to you, watching this, if life is safe, if it is predictable, if it has become routine and the adventure is missing, if you've moved from the city to the suburbs, both literally and maybe metaphorically, then maybe just, maybe we need a bit of Shackleton thinking because the Jesus we follow likes to mix things up Well, every now and again, right? I think Christianity is a dangerous adventure. And if you are new to the Christian faith, if you are new to the very idea of the Christian faith, then let me tell you it is the greatest thing in the world. But it is gonna take bravery and it is gonna take courage. Uh, I guess the question is, are you up for it? Right? [00:16:00] Because there is something, um, that I want to mention here, and we see it in the story and it's, well, it's illuminating to put it that way. It says the disciples were filled with wonder and amazement. Now there are some intense emotions going on right now for the disciples. I mean, these are grown men, logical men, practical men, and they've seen some amazing things in the last few years. Yet at this specific point in time, they are also very afraid. But at the same time as being afraid, they're filled with wonder and amazement. And this is a really, really interesting, just juxtaposition to be in. Um, and one we can often find ourselves in as Christians. Uh, the adventure may be dangerous, but at the same time, you're kind of filled with wonder and amazement, uh, about God and who he is. And this is a healthy balance when it comes to doing stuff that scares you. I don't think you can just have the emotion of fear. I don't think that's a particularly [00:17:00] healthy place to be. And if I'm honest, it doesn't really make sense to me yet. I know that I can be scared and I can be in situations that are well outside of my comfort zone, uh, and still be in awe and wonder and amazement of Christ for what he has done and what he's still doing in my life and in the world around me. Okay? So essential to being able to go to places that scare you for the sake of the kingdom is the corresponding awe and wonder of him. You should never, ever separate the two, which is why it's so important that we have people in our lives. Who encourage us to do the stuff that scares us. And one of the ways that we encourage people is to make sure that we are in awe and wonder of him and never lose sight of that. So let's get into this, shall we? Hugh encourages you to do stuff that scares you. Let's define this a little. What does encouragement mean [00:18:00] when you encourage someone? You give him or her the confidence? Uh, the courage to do something right, and courage. The building of courage. Encouragement is about building courage. It's about bravery, it's about confidence. Uh, so Hugh builds that in you. Who builds courage in you, who helps you to be brave to take risks In the Bible, there was a church in Thessalonica, okay, which is in modern day Greece. Now they needed courage, they needed to be brave because it was all kicking off for them. Let me tell you. So Paul, who was one of the guys that started the church, sent for, sent them a guy called Timothy, to do just that. To encourage them, to encourage them. And you see this, um, you see that Paul knew they were struggling, right? You can read about this in one Thessalonians chapter three, verse five. And so he sent Timothy to encourage them. [00:19:00] So my question is, who is your Timothy? Now I know if you are a Christian watching this, you could say that Christ is your encourager. And he is, and that's wonderful. And it's amazing. And let's not make light of that, right? But I also believe God sends people into our lives to encourage us. Paul just does. Well, Paul didn't just say to the Thessalonian Church, you know what? Pray more guys. He sent Timothy, he sent a person. We all need that encourager, even if you're a Christian, someone that encourages you so that you are not shaken by the storms of life. And they encourage you to stand and take ground even when it scares you, especially when it scares you. So who builds that courage in you? It's a great question, isn't it? Picture them in your mind now. Thank God for them. And if no one comes to mind, ask God to send someone to you. Maybe that's one of the reasons you are watching this now, [00:20:00] connect with what's going on and get encouraged. It's what we want to do. We want to encourage you. We wanna encourage you to keep walking with Christ. It's what we're here for right now. For me, there are several people that I can immediately think of, uh. My mum, for example, she's always encouraged me. Uh, her methods may be what we call a little bit an orthodox, I'm not gonna lie, certainly for the modern era. How many of you have got mums like that? Do you know what I mean? But you know what? They worked. Uh, I remember I used, I started to get bullied at school. So my mum packed me off to Judo school to learn how to fight and stand up for myself. And I would go to these judo competitions. And my mum realized that if I was kind of my usual laid back, chilled out kind of self, I wouldn't really care. And so I wouldn't really fight. And so she would take me aside and she'd get me angry. She would shout at me. She would insult me. She'd shake me. So when I got angry, I cared. And do you know what? When I got angry and when I cared, I won, I would fight. [00:21:00] And that was my mum. Mum has always been a huge encourager to me. I think of my amazing wife, Sharon, my CEO, my Chief Encouragement Officer. Um, most of the scariest things I've ever faced in my life I've had to face since being married. Well, there's marriage itself. I mean, first and foremost, I didn't even know I could do it. I'd screwed up every relationship beforehand, so my track record was not great. Um, and then we started to plan for kids and I mean, oh my goodness. You talk about scary, right? I have heard countless stories from folks about how their dads weren't great, and I didn't want to be that dad. I didn't want my kids to have to sit in a meeting and talk about how I'd screwed their lives up and how much I'd wrecked what they were planning, right? Um, I just didn't want that, uh, there was setting up my business. Um, [00:22:00] and you know what? We set my business up just after Josh had been born. My first child, we had no money. In fact, we owed a lot of money and Sharon had stopped working to look after Josh. And those times was scary, but they were also fun and filled with awe and wonder and excitement. And there have been several times on the path where, you know, the businesses that I run have almost gone under. It's not always been plain sailing, right? We've had no idea how we were gonna meet payroll that month. I've had to take pay cuts. I've had to put money into the business to get it through. I've had to confront people. I've had to let people go. I've lost really good friendships as a result of it. I've had to face a lot of difficult decisions. I've had to turn down work when I needed the money. I had to pray when the needle was empty in the carb and I didn't have cash to put petrol in the tank. The journey has been nuts and it has been scary. But in all of that, Sharon has been my chief encouragement [00:23:00] officer. I think that's what your spouse is really. Uh, she has built that courage inside of me. Courage to keep going, courage to trust God in all of it, and courage to change and grow and develop as a character. Sharon is the most encouraging person I know, and she tells me to go for it. She prays for me. She's got my back. Right. I think people like Tony and Andy Udin, um, who have had to face, I would say difficulties and trials that many of us. Have been spared from. And Tony was the guy I, a friend from university and I talked to him about marriage. He was the one I talked to about starting business. And recently there's been a couple of tricky situations that I was facing where I talked with Tony and he gives me his wisdom and encourages me to go for it. Dave Connolly encourages me. John Harding encourages me. I mean, I could go on and on. I am incredibly blessed because there are a lot of people around me who encourage me, most of whom [00:24:00] I haven't got time to list. 'cause we would be here literally all day. Uh, and you know, if you are one of those guys that encourages me, God bless you, uh, because you know, it's awesome. But whilst it's awesome and whilst it great, maybe there's another question to ask here. Who do you encourage? Who do you build courage into? Because really that is. A key question for us, right? That's a key challenge is what leaders do we spend most of our time building, encouraging others to keep going? I think of Moses, one of God's champions, and he's talked about a lot in the Old Testament and in the Jewish faith, and he was, he was one of God's key leaders, right? And God tells Moses to encourage and strengthen Joshua and Joshua's, a guy who is fast coming through the ranks to lead God's people. He's gonna take over from Moses, right? He's the next stage of their journey and, and God tells Moses to encourage [00:25:00] him and strengthen him. That's what he's told to do. That's what leaders do. Who are we encouraging? Such a powerful question. Write a list. Thank God for them. Pray for them. Now sometimes that's walking with people through some of the most difficult situations they will face. But often though, I think it's the small things, the unseen, the stuff we do on a regular basis. I think of my good friend Al Marshall, who is like, he is Mr. Super encourager. I mean, he sends me text messages as I know he just, to a lot of people, um, just saying that he's praying for me, uh, that God is with me and to keep going and he just encourages socks off me. And that's a small act, right? Just to throw up a quick Prayer, to send a quick text. Who are you encouraging? Who are you building courage in? Who are you sending those text messages to, to telling them to keep going? Nelson Mandela said, I learned that the courage, I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph [00:26:00] over it. The brave man is not the one who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. What a great quote that is. When we encourage someone, we are not trying to hide or disguise the fear. We're not, we're not pretending it doesn't exist, right? But we're there to help people to triumph over it and to help those that feel afraid, for whatever reason, to conquer that fear. And this leads me nicely on to our third and final point of the day. Confront the brutal facts. Now in his book, good to Great, uh, author Jim Collins wrote, now you must maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, and at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they may be. And in leadership, this [00:27:00] is the balance, right, that we have to hold, isn't it? That we can, and we will in the end, prevail okay, but also confront the reality of where we are at. Churchill was great at doing this, especially during the war. He had an unwavering faith, that's for sure. You'll have seen it in the movies, right? But during his darkest times, he wrote things like We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime from this, nothing will turn us nothing. We will never parley. We will never negotiate with Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land. We shall fight him by sea and we shall fight him by air. Until with God's help, we have rid the earth of his shadow. I mean, talk about a faith that you are gonna prevail, that you are gonna win. But at the same time, Churchill was absolutely [00:28:00] fastidious about making sure that he was given all the facts no matter how bad or how dark. And this is important because according to Collins, one of the most single demotivating actions you can take is to hold out false hopes, uh, for people that are gonna be soon swept away by events, right? We face the fears. We don't pretend that they're not there, nor do we not pretend the consequences aren't real. If that makes sense. Um, let's look at what Jesus said to the disciples. Jesus took the 12 aside privately and told them what was gonna happen. In other words, we are confronting the reality. We're confronting the facts. I want you to know that we're gonna go to Jerusalem where the son of man will be handed over to the ruling priest and religious scholars, and they will condemn him to death, hand him over to the Romans, they will mock him, spit in his face, torture him, and kill him. Here is Jesus confronting the brutal facts for himself and for the disciples. Okay? [00:29:00] They're scared, they're afraid, but they're confronting these facts. He's letting the 12 know what is gonna happen, and it is not pretty. Jesus is gonna get tortured and he will be killed. I mean, talk about confronting the brutal facts, right? You could say Jesus is actually brutal about confronting the facts. I mean, there are no holds barred here, and we must be the same. So for ourselves, when we face things that scare us and for those things, uh, that, uh, for those things that we encourage in people and for those people we encourage. We have to be real. We have to confront reality. But at the same time, we need this unwavering faith in Christ that we will prevail, that he will lead us in triumph. And here's the amazing thing about Christianity. Our faith is in an unwavering God and the hope that we have, even as bad as it gets, as dark as it's gonna get, we have this hope that we will prevail [00:30:00] because of the work of Christ. And if you read what Jesus said to the disciples and just leave it there, it kind of feels final, doesn't it? It feels hopeless. He tells 'em it's gonna get bad, it's gonna get dark, it's gonna get evil. And ultimately he tells 'em that he's gonna be killed. I mean, that is dark. That is really, really dark. But he doesn't leave it there. That's not all Jesus tells them. Look at what he says. Afterwards, they will mock him, spit in his face, torture him and kill him. But three days later, he will rise again. And that's the hope that we have. As bad as it's gonna get there is resurrection. Even death cannot defeat our Jesus. He confronted the brutal facts, but he had an unwavering faith that he would prevail even in the face of death. And because of that, because he went before us, because he conquered the grave, because he defeated death, we can have that hope [00:31:00] too. Now, remember. Okay, that for the disciples, this hasn't actually happened yet. I'm sitting here in the beauty of hindsight, right there is only for them, the fear of it happening. They're actually at the start of the journey. They've just started out on this road and it's a scary place to be. And the truth is, as we're gonna see in the coming weeks, it's actually going to get harder for them. They could turn around now, right? They could stop. There's always that possibility, uh, that there, and there's gonna be times for us. Where we could turn around, there will be times that they wished they had turned around. I can tell you that straight off the bat. I know it's coming, right? I've read ahead. Uh, there's gonna be times they wish they turned around, but I admire them because you know what? They didn't. They faced their fears and this call of God, this journey that we are on, this adventure that we are living will be at times a scary road. We are traveling down. We're gonna have to deal with the fear. We're gonna have to face [00:32:00] them. We're gonna need people alongside us, people that will encourage us, build that courage in us to confront the brutal truth of where we're heading to, but at the same time strengthen us and encourages, uh, to have that unwavering faith that in all of this, through his grace and his mercy, we will prevail. It's good stuff, isn't it? I love it. Now, if you are exploring the Christian faith and you think it is irrelevant for your life today, I really hope you can see from this passage that it couldn't be more relevant with what's going on for you and for your life. I hope you can see how in one short story, at the turning point in the story of Christ, which we're now seeing, there is so much wisdom and so much inspiration for our own lives and so much encouragement for us. But if that's all it was, and if that's all it is, then the Bible's really nothing more than a self-help book full of principles that we can [00:33:00] use. So there's got to be more to it than that. And I think there is, right? 'cause it, it stops being a self-help book. The Bible stops being a self-help book when Jesus took this journey. And died on the cross. It has to be more than that, right? It has to be about the truth that Jesus came to earth as a man, a God man, to encourage us to build courage in us, to do stuff that scares us, to do the impossible, to believe in him, to hope in him, to follow him on this great adventure called life. And let me tell you, he is worth following because he thought you were worth dying for. So wherever you find yourself in this journey, whether you are a Christian, whether you are not a Christian, whether you are new to this whole thing, whether like me, you're a bit kind of, you know. A bit established, let's say, uh, in this journey, it doesn't really matter because there are gonna be times where we are gonna have to face our fears, where we're gonna have to go down a road that scares [00:34:00] us, and that's okay. That's God's plan. That's God's call. That's God's adventure. And he will bring people around us to encourage us. And you know what? He will put you around people to encourage them because that's what leaders do, right? And we are leaders. And in all of this, we're open with ourselves. We're honest with ourselves about the brutal facts, but we have an unwavering faith that in God, all things are possible to him who believes. I hope you've got something out of this that was a computer saying, amen. By the way, I hope you've got something out of this. I hope you've enjoyed it. Uh, and back to me in the, in the, in the cave. Okay, finally we're back. You kind of hung up a little bit there. [00:35:00] Dunno why just did, uh, how did you find that? Uh, I thought it was really fascinating doing the talk prerecorded. Now historically, if you don't know, I have always done the talk live. Uh, but I thought a change of scenery might be good. Um, and uh, it was quite different doing it prerecorded not gonna lie. Uh, so we'll see how that one works out for me anyway. How did you get on with that? Now what we're gonna do whilst you are thinking about all of that and pondering all of that sort of stuff, um, 'cause it is great stuff, right? Who encourages you to do stuff that scares you? And I guess, like I said, in those in the talk, more importantly, who are you encouraging to do stuff that scares them? Uh, big deal, right? Big questions. Now, um, before we, uh, get into your comments and thoughts about this, we are gonna do some worship. We have a song called I Will Exalt, uh, which I'm gonna play in just a minute. Uh, which John and Anna [00:36:00] Grace have done for us. Again, um, gotta love John and Anna Grace, or Jag as we like to call them, the Jag. Uh, and they've done this song and it's a brilliant song and it's a very simple song. Okay? Now, the reason I that we do worship as Christians is we want to sort of, we use music as a way to sort of remind ourselves of the promise of God, of the faithfulness of God, of the amazingness of God, of the awesomeness of God. That's generally why we do worship. And so, uh, in the, in the church, when we do church. In the building. Um, it's easy to sing along when you are, when you are by yourself on a bus, maybe watching the stream either live or prerecorded or whether you are watching, um, you know, whether you're in the house or wherever it, it is. Maybe not always that easy to sing. Um, but it's, it's one of those where we're going to spend a few minutes to sort. Thinking about just letting God speak to us about the, talk about what [00:37:00] maybe he's saying to you. Um, what stood out, what's the challenge to you? Uh, and we're gonna sing, or this song, or you can watch it or you can just listen to it and let it minister to you. You can hum along. You can close your eyes if it's safe to do so, obviously, um, however you want to worship. Um, and if you are new to the Christian faith, never done this thing before, just let God minister to you through the music. Like I said, the song's called I Will Exalt. Exalt is a sort of an old fashioned word, isn't it? Basically meaning I will put you in a higher position. Um, so, God, I make you higher than how I feel. I kind of make you bigger than my fears. I, um, Jesus, I'm gonna put you in the right place. I'm gonna put everything in context and you are at the top of it all. You are my king and my Lord. You are my God. And that's what we talk about when we talk about exalting. Uh, and the other part of this song talks about the presence, um, you know, being in [00:38:00] the presence of God, about God being with us, and how he, this is brilliant when we talk about encouragement, 'cause he is at, you know, he encourages like nothing else really. Uh, the presence of God, knowing that God is with us. Um, you know what, where can I go? Where can I hide? I can't hide from you. God, you are always with me. Whom shall I fear? What shall I fear? Because you are with me. And it's just good to remember wherever you are right now. Whatever you are doing, God is with you regardless of how you feel, regardless of how you look, regardless of how you smell, he is with you. So let's, uh, let's do this song and then I'll be back after the worship.[00:39:00] Video: Your presence, the A song I.[00:40:00] Without it. IS.[00:41:00] Beside you.[00:42:00] You beside you.[00:43:00] Matt: Okay. Wow. Wasn't that a fantastic song? Uh, and like I say, we use worship. I just love that song. And I lo I, to be fair, I've loved every song that John and Anna Grace have done for us, which has just been fantastic. And you really sense the, the presence of God and the fact that God is with you. Uh, it is an amazing truth, an amazing truth, that God is actually with us, which is fantastic. So, uh, what do you think, put it in the comments. What did you get outta this? Um. What's Abby written here? Uh, this is encouraging, especially as I go off to uni, even though it's scary. God is with me. You know what he [00:44:00] is. Abby, you are utterly correct, uh, which is always a good thing to be. Um, and it's cool. You know, I, I remember, um, university was a long time ago for me, I'm not gonna lie. It was a long old time. And, um, uh, when, when did I go to uni? 30 years ago. 92. Is that 30 years ago? Almost 30 years ago. That's when I moved to Liverpool, actually. Um, 1992. Moved over from, uh, moved over to Liverpool and started university here. A really sort of fresh phrase, Christian, just new to the Christian faith. And God has been with me every step of the way, and I know he will be with you, Abby, and you'll be fab at uni and have a great, uh, a great impact in everything that's going on. So, um. And we're gonna miss you. That's gonna be, you know, real gutting you and I have just dropped a piece of paper, that's what that noise was. Uh, you and Josh heading off to university this year, and if anybody else is going to uni who is watching this, then I pray you, [00:45:00] uh, you just have a big time, uh, over there. Remember, the most important thing about university is getting stuck into a local church, uh, and becoming part of the local church family. Absolutely, utterly essential. I cannot begin to tell you how, how important that is because, um, because you know what? It changed my life when I came to university here in Liverpool and got plugged into the church back. Back then there were like 20 people in the church. Half of those were students as well. And um, we just got plugged into families and families make all the difference. And you know, the Bible says that God puts a lonely in families. And we got plugged into families. Into families, which was great. They fed us, they water us. They just did life with us. And I'm still very good friends with a lot of those people even today. And I'm very, very thankful for them and the impact they had on my life. So wherever you are going in the world, whatever university you are going to, it is gonna be great. It is the brilliant chapter, the next chapter in your life. It's gonna be an amazing time. [00:46:00] It is gonna be wonderful and God's gonna do some great stuff, but do get connected with. Church, local church. And if you can't find a local church, definitely stay connected with what's going on here. Uh, with what we're doing online, we would love to connect with you and get you connected with other similar sort of people, really. So you're connected with family and why not? Uh, it'd be great to do that. And so, you know, uh, I know that last week GCOC results came out the week before a level results came out, where it's, you know, in the UK these are basically the really important exam results for the students. And, um, it's been all kinds of thrown up in the air with COVID and I dunno how you did, whether you did well, whether you did better than you were expecting, whether you did worse, whether you did not so great in your A levels, and then the government changed their mind about their policy and now you've done all right. I genuinely don't know where you're at, but I do know that God is good and he has a plan for you. Uh, and you know what? The grades are cool, but they [00:47:00] don't define me. What happens at university is cool, but it doesn't define me. My career has never defined me. My job has never defined me. I'm a businessman, I'm an entrepreneur, but that doesn't define who I am. You know what? Tomorrow I may walk into the office and my business may have to close for what I'm not saying it is. If you work with me, don't panic. Um, there's nothing, I'm nothing I'm revealing here, but you know what, if it did, if it all closed tomorrow, nothing changes where I'm concerned because my identity is not in that. My identity has always been and always will be in Jesus and who he has made me and what he has called me to do, and nothing that happens around me really impacts that. So, uh, yeah, I feel like I've just gone off on one there. So. Be blessed wherever you're at and whatever you're doing, if you're going on sixth form, if you're going on to uni, um, it will be great and just enjoy this next chapter as you kind of, you're kind of entering into adulthood and you're sort of fending for yourself, [00:48:00] and it's brilliant and it's gonna be great, and it's gonna be wonderful. So do enjoy it. Um, what's Matt put here? Your ancient Matt Edmundson. I feel like every week, Matt, you're calling me ancient. I just wanna point that out. How old are you? I'm just really curious because, uh, you know, I don't know how ancient I actually am, but that's fine. Uh, you know, I, I'm not as old as Jesus, but I'm not as young as my kids, so I'm somewhere in the middle. Brilliant. So, um. Right. Let's do notices and catchup, shall we? The, you know, 'cause there's a lot of good stuff to get on with there. So the first one is if you have enjoyed today's talk, and if you wanna see it again, if you wanna watch it again, we will put it up on YouTube. On YouTube. You'll be able to catch up with all the other talks that we've done. And also on the website, we put them up as blog posts with the videos, which is fantastic. So you can, uh, take advantage of that resource. Do you want me to show you that? Um, let me bring it [00:49:00] up here. Oh, this is the kids bit still. So you see this bit at the top here that says messages. You're just gonna click on that and that's all the messages there. You see last week's message by Abby. You can't buy your way into heaven, uh, is on there already. And if you click on that, uh, you can, uh, read more about it. Um. We've got the notes there, we've got the timestamp, we've got some quotes, some scriptures, and you can also watch the video from YouTube right on the website. How cool is that? So make sure you check that out, uh, and you know, if you wanna catch it with anything. Of course church just doesn't happen on Sunday. It's great that we get together for this sort of hour or so, but that's not all it is, is it? No, no. It's about the other 168 hours or however many hours we have during the week, uh, and the rest of it as well. So we have this thing called between Sunday where we bring some extra stuff during the week. And again, that's all on our YouTube channel. If you head over to our website, you can [00:50:00] follow the link to the YouTube channel, uh, and subscribe. And Abby has done some great videos, uh, for this week's between Sunday. She asked, can a Christian be rich that's on there. And also, how do I make God my foundation in 2020 is also on there. So you can check those out. Make sure you subscribe to those videos, um, to get that content. And whilst you're on the website, give us your name and email address and we will send you out an email once a week. No spam, just an email once a week. Letting you know what's coming up in the live stream. We will let you know about the between Sunday videos and you can watch those directly and anything else that's going on. So if you'd like to just turn on over to the website, put in your name and email address, uh, on the, on the signup page there, and we will let you know all of that stuff. Now let's do Catchup. Oh, yes. The best one ever. Let's do this. Are you ready? Are you really ready? Because you know Josh has built this up. I'm hoping for his sake it is gonna be good. Here we go. [00:51:00] Josh: Hello. Welcome to Sunday Catchup. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Chris. Okay. Matt: You know what, that was last week's. Okay. So let me, uh, let me bring into the sys, I dunno why I did that. I'm sure maybe I'm just, maybe it's because I'm ancient, Matt, that I, I'm sure I did that one. Here we go. This is the one that I want. Let's play this one. Josh: Hello and welcome to this week's Sunday Catch up.[00:52:00] For those of you who dunno me, allow me to introduce myself. My name is Josh Edmundson. I am now officially a first year student at the University of St. Andrews, and I'm a core member of the team here at Frontline City. For those of you that have never watched this before, catch up is the part of the Sunday stream where we get to look at video sent in from the community so that we have an opportunity to catch up with each other and see what we've been up to. So in the usual spirit of things, I'll kick off with what I've been up to this week. Um, I've been up to a few things this week actually. So first and foremost, I've been doing all this prep for university now that my place has been confirmed, which is proving to be slightly more tricky than I originally anticipated. Apparently there's a lot of paperwork and forms for that when you move, like who knew. Um, another thing I've been up to this week is I have been reading this book. I mean, how do you pronounce it? I [00:53:00] would say Sapiens, but I've heard people say Sapiens. I'm not entirely sure. I think we did look this up. I think it was actually Sapiens if you're British. But I don't know. Sapiens sounds so much better in my opinion. Who knows if, if you do know how to pronounce this properly, please do let me know because I am, I am genuinely quite curious. Now, a few weeks ago, my dad, Matt Edmundson, who is the general mc for Frontline City, um, you'll, you'll know who he is. If you've watched the first part of the stream or if you watched the latter half, you will definitely know who he is. But he put out a challenge a few weeks ago to try and do a cartwheel. And so last week we had a bunch of those videos in which we showed, we've got a few more submissions this week. So let's watch those real quick.[00:54:00] Matt: You know, they say that the life of an entrepreneur, you know, running your own business is glamorous. It's supposed to be cool and amazing. Even you could argue, being a church pastor is kind of cool, right? Then why? Why am I here? Look at that weather. Yeah. Gotta go do the shopping, get the food in. Very exciting, in Asda, in. With my ninja mask. Oh yeah. It's how I roll on a Sunday morning. Gotta do the shopping with my, um, I love New Zealand Break in the rain. Oh yeah, boy. Way to spring your day. Josh: Well, mum, [00:55:00] I've gotta say I am thoroughly impressed your cartwheel. It was like watching a swan do a ballet. It was wonderful. Hopefully I'm sucking at Brandie points with this. Phoebe, you smashed it as well. Excellent. Everyone seems to be able to do a cartwheel better than I can, which is slightly disheartening, but I guess I'll just have to practice work at that. Get better because it's such an essential life skill. If you wanna see my dad do a cartwheel madson again, go watch last week's video. You know what? I was super impressed. Did way better than I thought he would, and he didn't pull anything either. So, you know. Well done, dad. We're all proud of you. Yeah. Thank you very much for sending in your videos. For anyone watching this, if you want to take part in this catch up segment, please do send me any videos, the WhatsApp number that you'll see throughout the service. I'd love to watch them. I'd love to put them up here. It'd be great to see what more people are getting up to, particularly as we go through this rather difficult time throughout the world. So please do send me those videos. [00:56:00] That's all for me this week. I hope you have a fantastic seven days between now and the next service, take it easy. Matt: Uh, wow. Well done Josh. That was amazing. I thought you did really well. I'm just going to give you a little, little, uh, for those of you who dunno, Josh actually wrote the music to that little montage, felt very vlog. I dunno if that's the, if that's what you wanted. It's do, but it did feel very vlog. Uh, and he worked very hard with that, with the opening coffee scene. And so, you know, make sure you give Josh the love and I really appreciate him doing that. And thank you for sending in, uh, the Cartwheel videos because, um, they're all really good fun. And this all stemmed a few weeks ago. My daughter did one and it was not great. Um, I think you need to practice a little bit, Zoe, I'm not gonna lie. Uh, and so we've been doing this sort of cartwheel challenge ever since. So [00:57:00] yeah, like Josh, I was stoked. Sharon did one. I was like, you go girl. You go. Absolutely. And Phoebe, good to see you do that. Uh, yes, Josh, that was amazing. It was amazing. I'm loving it. Just loving the little vlog via we've got going on there. We should definitely, uh, definitely keep that going soon. So I guess we need to figure out how that's gonna work while you're at uni. Anyway, that can be another, another topic for another day. So, uh, just to let you know, there is no zoom this week. Uh, there'll be no zoom call this week 'cause Sharon and everybody is away in Jersey. Um, and uh, I think everyone's back this week. I think Sharon's back this week. I think Zoe's back this week. Think Zach's back this week. So I think I get my whole family back, uh, for next Sunday. What's this? Uh, so Sharon says, thank you Josh. Uh, and then Josh says, thank you. Thank you very much, bows. Very good job, son. Well done. I liked how you're sucking up to your mum for brownie points there. [00:58:00] You and I were both doing that. Stay, uh, take note men, brownie points work. Okay. So with all of that said, next week, uh, actually next week is Josh, uh, Josh is gonna be sharing with us, uh, and he's gonna be getting into the next part of the scripture in Mark's gospel. Looking forward to that. Um, he and I have had many conversations about this talk and about what it could be and where it should go and all that sort of stuff. So I know it's gonna be good. Uh, it's gonna be great. What's this? Zoe says, her cartwheel was beautiful. Zoe's cartwheel was. Was, um, different, uh, and graceful. Maybe let's use the word graceful. Uh, and, but definitely is practice. Uh, so yeah. Next week is Josh. Josh is gonna be here next week. I'll be back to lead the meeting. Josh will be doing the talk, so it'll be great to see you. Don't forget, send your catchup videos to Josh. It's the hardest thing we'd have to do is to get from you videos, just little videos of stuff [00:59:00] that you are up to. It doesn't have to be a cartwheel, it could be anything. Little challenge to everybody watching. Send a video to that WhatsApp number this week. Okay. Uh, that would be really, really cool for the catch, so Josh can sort that out, which would be great. Um, and, uh, yeah, I'm, I'm sure it'll be fab. So. All of that said, wherever you are, whatever you are doing, I pray you have a fantastic week and that God meets you wherever you're at and you get to know him. Do stay connected with us, especially if you are, uh, finding out more about the Christian faith. Come back next week and watch the Sunday livestream. Be great to see you. Connect with us in the comments, uh, during the week. Do subscribe, uh, to all the between Sunday stuff that we do. Uh, it'd be really great to see you in something that, you know, just connect with you somehow. So thanks for watching, thanks for being with us. God bless you. Have a fantastic, I've just seen this comment that's popped up on screen before I go. I'll show it to you, Matt. Crew says his cartwheel will be done in [01:00:00] heaven. It needs to be done before you get to heaven. That's all I'm saying. Uh, but it's been great to see you wherever you are, whatever you're doing, have a fantastic week. God bless you. We will see you again next Sunday. Uh, I think that's it. Bye for now.
