Why would I give up the right to do whatever I want with my life and follow Jesus?

Why would I give up the right to do whatever I want with my life, to live by my own standards..._ Abby: [00:00:00] Everyone, my name's Abby, and I'm so excited for us to be able to carry on our journey through the Book of Mark. Now I'm currently surrounded by a lot of tech equipment, which is really not my forte, so you will have to bear with me if anything goes wrong. Um, but yeah, Matt has already read through our passage for today, um, but I'm just gonna put it up on the screen. Um, yeah, if you want to read it again, um, and just so we can keep referring back to it as we go through today's passage. Now, as I was first reading through this passage, one of the first things I noticed was who Jesus is actually talking to when he is sharing this message. The passage says that Jesus called the Crowd and the disciples who were his followers to hear this message. It wasn't just instruction for those who hadn't decided to follow him yet, but also for those who [00:01:00] had already decided to follow him and had begun that journey of discipleship. Jesus is telling them they have more aspects of their life to surrender to him, more aspects of the cross to understand and embrace. So this message is equally for those who don't know Jesus and what it means to follow Him as also for those who have been walking with him as his disciple, as his follower already, which is amazing because that means that today's message is for all of us. So. The first aspect of this passage that I want to look at is what does Jesus actually mean when he says, if anyone wants to follow me, deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me. Now, is it just me or first look? Does this phrase seem [00:02:00] maybe confusing or challenging, or even a bit overwhelming? And I think that's because this message is just so different to the message of our culture. You know, our ears aren't really used to hearing stuff like this. So it is definitely something for us as followers of Jesus to get our heads around, and we are gonna look more at that later. Now, the second thing that I noticed when I was going through this passage is that this message is an invitation. Jesus says, if anyone wants to follow me. You know, he's not forcing this onto anyone. He's not making the Crowd conform to this way of life, but he's simply presenting them with an invitation. So the first thing to take from this, or that I take from this, is that following Jesus is a choice. We have a decision to make. Now in this passage, Jesus really clearly spells out what it means to follow him. [00:03:00] And it is almost like he's saying that following him, following Jesus, oh, where's that one gone? Uh oh, okay. My slide is gone. Um, but he's almost saying that following him is equal to denying yourself, plus taking up your cross. If you imagine an equation. Um, so the question we might ask, the question I ask is, what actually is my cross? So, to understand what it means to take up our cross, it's so important to look at the historical background of what the cross actually was. Now, the cross was the most shameful method of death that was carried out by the Romans who were the ruling dictatorship in Israel at the time. And I think it's also important to know here what the cross is not. You know, in our lives we might hear [00:04:00] people talking about a sickness or a troubling relationship, or maybe the death of a friend or a family member and saying, oh, this is my, this is just my cross. I have to carry it. Um, but this isn't what Jesus is talking about here. You know, it's not a burden, it's not a suffering of life that he's referring to. But rather he's referring to a life that is surrendered to God. So when Jesus speaks of the cross, we need to remember the connotations that he would've had of the cross during that time. And to the Jewish people that were listening to Jesus. The cross for them meant shame. It meant suffering, it meant opposition, and it meant death. So in essence, Jesus is saying that if you want to follow him, these things may happen to us. You know, we may face shame or opposition for holding [00:05:00] beliefs and convictions that are so different from those of our culture. For some Christians in countries where there's active persecution for their faith, they may even face physical death for what they believe. We may also face suffering in other ways. Or even just struggle to keep going in our faith in Jesus turning from old habits and sins that don't honor God can be a real struggle. And these are just a few examples of what it means, what it looks like practically, to surrender our lives to Jesus, to deny ourselves and to take up our cross. Now, of course, every Christian's journey will look different. You know, it might not look like all of these things together, but the invitation is the same to everyone who hears and thinks about these words of Jesus. Now, one aspect of following Jesus, of denying [00:06:00] ourselves and taking up a cross is to be willing to sacrifice our own interests, hopes, ideals and dreams. Now for me, one thing that comes to mind in this whole area is, um, the thought of romantic relationships. I don't know if any of you can relate. Um, and there have been points in my life where God has clearly spoken to me, um, either through his word or through other people, um, and even through a dream and has led me away from certain relationships and certain situations. Now, this isn't to say that we don't have God-given dreams for our lives, um, or that we always, you know, that we have to throw away all of our plans or hopes. No, that's not what Jesus is saying, but it's a matter of whether we are willing to fully surrender them to Jesus, trusting that his way and his plans are what's best for us. You know, whether that works out [00:07:00] and looks like the life that we expected or not. Jesus knows the difference between what we want and what we actually need, and he always leads us into places of life. Now I'm just thinking back to Sharon's message to us last week, which was just so full of truth and so inspiring. Um, and if you want to watch it, then it's, um, saved on our Facebook page, um, in the, uh, live stream section. And if you were there for our discussions about the questions that we might have when God doesn't act or do things the way we expect him to, then this topic, um, this conversation might be familiar. And this whole idea is just so relevant surrounding the plans that we have for our own lives and the ways that these work out in reality. God promises to work all things together for the good of those who love [00:08:00] him. And this includes when we surrender our hopes and our dreams to him. Now, I believe this is part of what it means to call Jesus the Lord of our life. And that's a phrase that is used quite a lot in church. Um, and it essentially means to have Jesus in the driver's seat of our lives, you know, to let him be the one that is in control. And when we decide to follow Jesus, you know, he forgives us. He takes away our sin and our mistakes. He sets us on a new path and gives us this gift of eternal life with him. But here, Jesus is reminding us that this initial decision to follow him, that is just the start of our journey with him. Now I am well aware that likely most of you that are watching are further along in your journey with God than I am. Um, but this truth remains that all of us choose to step out [00:09:00] and every day learn more and more of what it means to follow him. And then from that place, we begin to make God the Lord of every area of our lives, knowing that his way is the best way. And being willing to surrender anything necessary to follow in that way. Now in September, I'm headed off to uni, and the reality of what that's gonna look like in this slightly crazy world is uncertain. But honestly, I'm just full of so much hope because I know that whatever life ends up looking like, I know that God has my best interests at heart. Again, whether that looks like I hoped it would or not. Now in Jesus' life, we see how he often defied people's opinions of him and their expectations of how they thought he should save them. Now Sharon actually to touched on this in her message last week, [00:10:00] um, but one example in Jesus' life that particularly stands out to me is the Jewish followers that began to listen to and respond to his teachings, believed that as a messiah or a savior. Jesus should rescue their kingdom from the Roman dictatorship of the time. So therefore, when Jesus began speaking of his death and of his sacrifice, he lost many followers because following this Messiah began to look different than what they had imagined. What they had hoped. You know, they believed that the Messiah would be this warrior king and death on a cross that didn't really fit into that picture. And they were disappointed. And honestly, I feel like I can relate to this sometimes. I don't know if you've ever had a time when you've prayed to God to do something and you know, we expect him to come through as a warrior king and deliver us [00:11:00] in victory, which is in his nature. But I've often found that when I ask God to move. He first points me to the cross. He first points me to the long road of suffering that he walked to, to the end destination of his victory. So in this same way, when life isn't rosy and following Jesus looks different than we thought it would, you know, we can sometimes wonder whether following him is worth it. Now I truly believe that it is, and I just wanna take some time to unpack the why behind that. So in speaking of the call to lay down our lives, our interests, our rights, our personal hopes and dreams before God, the question we might ask is why. Like, why on earth would I ever give up the right to do whatever I want with my life, you know, to live by my own standards and to have [00:12:00] myself in the driver's seat of my life. Now, if we look at the Bible and also at the lives of others who are following Jesus, we can see a number of amazing reasons why. And the first is that in Jesus is life and eternal life. There's a verse in the Book of John, which talks about the life of Jesus. Um, it's John chapter 11 verses 25, and it says, Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, even if he dies, he will live. So this verse tells us that in him is abundance of life, both for, you know, our life on this earth, but also for our eternal life. One question that most of us will likely wrestle with at some point in our life is what happens to me when I die? It's a big question, and the verses that we are looking at [00:13:00] today tell us that if we put our faith and our trust in Jesus and believe in, believe in and follow him, we will live forever with him in a place where there is no more pain, death, suffering, or tears. Now another part of what it means to follow Jesus is God's promise to us that his joy, hope, and peace will be with us. There's this verse in the book of Romans, chapter 15, verse 13, and it says, may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing so that through the Holy Spirit, you may abound in hope. Now this verse is just so encouraging and it shows us some of the incredible things that come as a result of following Jesus wholeheartedly as we follow Jesus, denying ourselves and surrendering all to him, he promises that his [00:14:00] joy, peace, and hope will be so present in our life with him. And just to be clear, this isn't just this fleeting happiness or temporary calm or some, you know, naive optimism, but actually it is unexplainable joy. It is deep peace, and it's abounding hope even in the face of the hardest times. And as followers of Jesus, these things are always available to us. As followers of Jesus, we are also called to rest and give all our burdens to him. A verse here in the book of Matthew, which also talks about the life of Jesus. Matthew 11, uh, Matthew chapter 11 verses 28 to 30 and it says, come to me all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you. Let me teach [00:15:00] you because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you'll find rest for your souls. For my yolk is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. Now this verse is just so, so encouraging, and. Um, yeah. It just shows us what life with Jesus looks like. You know, despite struggles that may come as a result of following Jesus. We don't have to carry them on our own, and Jesus specifically tells us to give him all of our heavy burdens and exchange them for his lightness and his. So that's not to say that we won't face challenges or trials or opposition or pain when we walk in the way of the cross. You know, we can't be naive or oblivious to that. But God promises us that he can lift the loads and the burdens that we face in this life. Now, the last aspect I want to look at is how in [00:16:00] Jesus we become a new person. So this verse in the book of second Corinthians in the New Testament, chapter five, verse 17 says, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone and a new life has begun. So here we see that following Jesus. It's not just a nice little add-on in our lives, you know, it is not just something we do that makes us happy or keeps us sane in this. Honestly, really crazy life, but it's new, abundant and genuine life. Our old life and the mess, shame and worry that surrounded us, you know, that's not part of our identity anymore. Not only is our slate wiped clean, but actually we get a brand new slate. And belonging to Christ is the only way we experience true life. In any suffering [00:17:00] trials or struggles do not compare to the worth of knowing him. Now, I could go on and on about this, but I thought that it would be really amazing to hear from someone else about a story in their life in which choosing to say yes to God, even in the face of an uncertain and scary situation led to amazing things. So let's hear from Colette now. Hi everyone. My name's Colette, and I'm going to talk about my testimony. So this is the story of how my family went from Bolivia to the UK and how my mom took that leap of faith to listen to God and to leave behind everything she knew. So let's rewind back to 20 years ago. Um, my mom hadn't given birth to me and at the time, Bolivia was going through so much conflict with the government. There was civil war and [00:18:00] strikes, you name it, like it was all horrible. And at the time my auntie was in real danger because she worked quite high up with the government and anyone who worked with the government was under threat of being murdered and kidnapped. Um, so my auntie really feared for her life and my mom at the time made sort of a decision to talk to God about this and to really ask what God wanted of her, what was the right thing to do, and she felt that God was saying, go to uk. So. Long story short, my mom went to the uk, um, through France with my auntie, but as when we went, when we went to France, um, they said no. And they did not let us through. And my auntie, my cousin, um, my mom, seven months pregnant with me and my sister. Um, they had nowhere to go and it was awful. We had to, um, my mom had to sleep in the airport, but [00:19:00] on the bathroom floor because there was just no place for us to sleep. Not even on the chairs. It was packed in a small airport. So when my mom went back to Bolivia, she felt very discouraged and thought, why did this happen to me? A few months after I was born, my mom felt, felt like, again, God telling her go to the UK as well as my auntie. So they went, and even then, even when we had gotten accepted to go to the uk, we were still facing a lot of trials. Um, being an asylum seeker in the UK at the time, people we like, we faced a lot of discrimination and it was a horrible period. We were, um, we had a lot of people being racist to us, and we were being bullied. And this went on for many years, and we felt very, very alone. But the beauty about this story is that although we felt alone, it was almost as if God would reach out to us [00:20:00] and say like, no, you're not alone. Like he would send people. To come and provide for us and people we didn't even know. Like I would tell you half the stories, you wouldn't believe me. You'd be thinking, wow, like how, how could this happen? You know? Like this, this is God. Definitely like, and yeah, like for example, when I was a baby, like I didn't have a lot of clothes and we were quite poor as like, IM like immigrants and this lady came with bags, bags, bags of clothes for me. She was originating, she went, you know what? I don't need these clothes, have them. And it was just amazing like amount, time. God has done that. And I just think like, well, God is so big and you know, like if you leave your life with him and you just give up everything and just let him take you, then it's so rewarding. Wow. That is such an amazing message from Colette. [00:21:00] You know, as her mom listened to God telling her to go to England, even through struggle, confusion, opposition, she still followed in God's way to step into the life that God had for her and her family. Of course, following Jesus looks different for all of us. You know, it's not gonna, um, look like moving across the world for everyone. But the invitation to step out of our comfort zone into things that may be unknown and into a life that may not be what we'd imagined. That invitation is the same for all of us and stepping into the way of Jesus leads to life. Now, another thing that really stood out to me when I was reading these verses is this section of Let him deny himself. Let's see if that's up there. Hmm. Oh yeah. Wait. Yes. There we go. Let him deny [00:22:00] himself. Now, just a disclaimer for all the ladies. Feel free to replace these words with, let her deny herself. Um, this message fully applies to us as well. Um, but I'll just be referring to this verse saying he and him as the verse does. Um, but yeah, I thought I'd make that disclaimer before we look at this part. Um. So this concept of yourself denying yourself can initially seem a bit confusing, but when we look elsewhere in scripture, we get more insight into what Jesus is saying. So if you remember the Bible verse I mentioned earlier from um, two Corinthians chapter five, um, which says, anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone and a new life has begun. And for me, this is the key to help understand our passage in Mark chapter eight. [00:23:00] So we have our old sinful self, which if we've accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, that old self is dead and gone forever, and we now have a new heavenly life in him. So when Jesus in Mark chapter eight tells him to deny himself, he's telling us to deny our former sinful nature because we have begun a new life that is surrendered to Jesus. Now, one thing that I've realized is that my old self actually wants the opposite of the cross. So if we remember that the cross represents opposition, shame, suffering, and death, you know, our earthly selves, our old selves often wants the opposite of that. Our human nature wants acceptance, the opposite of opposition. [00:24:00] It wants honor the opposite of shame. It wants comfort, the opposite of suffering, and it wants safety, the opposite of death. And you know, it wants these things from the world. And when we say yes to following Jesus, we instead choose to value the acceptance, honor, comfort, and safety that are found in his arms. Over and above earthly fading versions of these things. Now, this can sometimes be so hard because we live surrounded by a world that does not value the cross, and also because our human nature often wants to reject this invitation to deny ourselves so we can sometimes feel like we're living in a battle. There's a verse in the book of Romans chapter six, which sums this up really well. It's verses 11 to 14, and it says, do [00:25:00] not let sin control the way you live. Instead, give yourself completely to God for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body, your whole life as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God. Sin is no longer your master. So we are alive in Christ and sin is no longer our master. And because of this, we are able to give ourselves completely to God and serve his purposes for our lives by learning how to always say yes to the new life that we have in him and the new way that he tells us to live. Now in the next part of this passage, Jesus tells us that whoever tries to save their life will lose it. But whoever loses his life, for my sake, and the gospels will save it. [00:26:00] So here we see Jesus telling us that if we want to save our life, in other words, if we want true, abundant, and eternal life in Jesus. The way to get there is through surrendering or losing our life for Jesus. And in the same way, those who choose to try and save their life by their own strength, chasing safety or comfort, honor and acceptance from the world will ultimately lose their life. And for some of us, this teaching from Jesus, it might not feel comfortable. And. In many ways it might even feel a bit overwhelming, but for those of us who are disciples of Jesus, the power that raised him from the dead lives inside of us, and when that thing decision, that sacrifice just seems too hard, and the cost of following Jesus just seems too [00:27:00] much. I want to encourage you today that all strength and power is found in him. The power to overcome and stand firm in the face of all difficulties that could come our way on the journey of being his disciple and following him is just that it's a journey and thankfully the road is paved with God's grace. You know, we aren't always gonna get it right. We are human and it's guaranteed that we'll stumble and fall at points. But God's grace and his strength is so much greater than any mistake that we could make. Now, for those of us that aren't followers of Jesus this afternoon, may his words challenge you to consider following him today. He says to you, if anyone wants to follow me, then deny yourself. Take up your cross and follow me.[00:28:00] He loves you and his arms are wide open. Now, I want to finish with this quote from John Piper, who is a Christian theologian, and he says, take up your cross. Deny your old self and in your new self who loves Jesus more than life. Follow him. Wow. There we go. Thank you, Abby. That was fantastic. I can see here we're still commenting on it. Uh, the road is paved with Grace. I wrote that quote down as well, babe. Just saying. Uh, Abby, thank you so much for taking the time to share your thoughts around that passage of scripture. My apologies again for not reading out the verses beforehand. That was sl remiss of me. Fortunately, Abby put them up on the screen so you kind of got the gist of the story. It's a part of Mark's gospel where, [00:29:00] um, Jesus gives this, you know, take up your cross and follow me. Uh, it's a very famous part of scripture. Especially if you've been around church for, um, a significant while. Uh, and you know, it's a, it's a fascinating verse, isn't it? Um, but Abba, you did that great. You did it so much. Justice. Let me encourage everybody who watched to go give Abby a big shout out, um, doing a talk, doing something like this. Uh, for a live broadcast, it's not what you'd call straightforward and it's not actually that easy, um, at all. Uh, in fact, you spend hours preparing. Um, and Abby spent seven hours round, uh, here on Thursday trying to get the thing recorded. Um, just we're making changes and getting the slides and all that sort of stuff, and that's after she spent. Prepping the talk. So, um, she did put a lot of time and energy into this. So Abby, thank you so much for what you [00:30:00] did. Uh, thank you for sharing. Um, let's see what we've got here. Fabulous. Absolutely. Matt Crew loved it as well. Tia, hi. Oh, it's all going on now. Thank you so much, Abby. Matt says, desperate to buy you a comb. Assume you're talking to me and not to Abby. There Matt. Uh, Sheila. Hey, how you doing? Proud grandma and why not Colette? Uh, did a F job. Thanks for sharing as well. Colette, you are fab. Great to have you involved. And Mona says, thanks Abby. So everyone's giving a bit of love out to Abby, which is great. So, um. She did great. She did great. And the good news is Abby will be back. That won't be the first time you get to hear from Abby, which is awesome. And I'm excited about that. It's always, always good to hear, uh, from people who have different life experiences and, uh, what have you put here? Abby's feeling the love, loved up. There we go. Good. That's the main thing. [00:31:00] Uh, you know, be proud. Why not? Um, and it is great to get people different ages, different life experiences to share God's word with us in terms of how they understand it and their worldview and what they know and have learned from God. It's fantastic. Right? And Abby is one of those fantastic people, and I, I love the fact she's shared with us and will continue to do so. So, um, it is wonderful to see, uh, some of the. I'm gonna use the word younger generation just 'cause she's younger than me, which I know most of you are for. You put some sarcastic comments in the comments, um, and it's, it was great. Well done Abby. Um, and thanks Colette too. Absolutely love to hear your bit of a love. Lovely to hear a bit of your story. It was apologies for my really awful reading then. I have no idea what happened. So, uh, as is usual at this particular point, we jump into the questions, which, if my system [00:32:00] works right, I will, uh, bring up here. Let me just go grab them real quick. Here we go. Let me add to screen. There we go. So these are the questions from Abby's talk. Do you struggle to deny yourself have, how have you seen God's grace at work in your life to help you say yes to your new life in him? Wow. We could go, we could just rock and roll on that all day. Can we, uh, and in what ways do you find acceptance on a comfort and safety in God? How does this compare to the acceptance on a comfort and safety found in the world or in other people? Wow. Um, I've just read your sarcastic comment. Matt. Uh, uh no one is in as his ancient Is you Matt Edmundson Except God. Yeah. Alright. Just 'cause I was mates. Win Noah and helped him build the arc. That's all right. Let's not go there. Um, so back to the [00:33:00] questions. So what I want to do, uh, is I'm gonna play a song which Josh and Abby have recorded, I hope. Now the reason I say I hope is because the song arrived halfway through Abby's video. And so I have not tested this, um, and this is a part of this live streaming software I've never used. And so I want you to be gracious, um, as I will try and bring. The music into play. And what I want you to do whilst I'm doing that, is just read through those questions. Just pray, God, what are you saying to me? Um, is there anything you want, want me to know to jot down through these questions? Just spend a bit of time just worshiping God and saying, Hey, what's going on? Um, if you dunno Christ, if you're not a Christian, then just listen to the words of the song that we're gonna play and just ask God to meet with you. Because he usually does, which is cool. Right. So, um, and we're gonna do that now for about five minutes. Um, and then we'll be back, we'll go through your comments and then we'll head into [00:34:00] Zoom. So what I want to do now, risky. You have no idea, Abby. This is very risky, so be gracious with me. I don't think the broadcast will end. Uh, but you never know, right? So let's, um, let me bring up. Uh, that there, so, um, I'm just gonna mute. How great. The lay between us, how high the mountain, I could not climb in desperation, I turned to [00:35:00] heaven and spoke your name into the night. Then through the darkness, your loving kindness saw through the shadows of my soul. The work is finished. The end is. Jesus Christ, my living Who could imagine so great. What heart could such pound grace the God of ages. Step down from glory to where my sin [00:36:00] and bear I shame. The cross is spoken. I am king of kings me. Forever. Jesus Christ Hallelu Praise no one free hall lost for me. You have broken every chain salvation in your name. Christ Christ Home.[00:37:00] Praise No one set free. Lost it Grip on me. You have. Your name, Jesus Christ. Then came the morning. Let seal the promise your body begin. The silence, the Roaring Lion declare the has no on me. Then came morning, they sealed their promise. [00:38:00] Your bury body begin to breathe out of the. The roar, declare has no claim on me. Jesus is the. Free. You have salvation. Jesus Christ.[00:39:00] You have Jesus Christ. Oh God. You're okay. I think. I think on the whole, that seemed to work. I think Martin sent me a text saying he could hear it. That was the main thing. And judging by the comments. You could hear it. The lyrics thing kind of failed right at the last minute there. [00:40:00] But we'll work on that. We will work on that. Um. We are gonna be trying to do more of the worship songs during this question session so you get time to reflect and to pray and to worship, uh, after the talk, which is great. Um, because you know, we are a church and praying and worshiping and listening to God is genuinely a good thing to do. So we are gonna try and encourage that a little bit more. Thanks Josh. Thanks Abby again for taking the time to create that song. Um. I put that in the comments. Uh, it's time to get writing, uh, what God's saying to you that you want to share. So write that in the comments. We'll go through those in just a minute. I'll give you a few seconds to get going. Uh, lemme just grab a little, um, a little water there. Uh, wet the whistle. Um, so yeah, let me also know what you think about the worship thing as well as we try to do more of that. Be great, um, to get your thoughts and ideas and input on that. Uh, and whilst you are busy writing your comments, I'm just gonna grab the zoom [00:41:00] link, uh, zoom where we will be heading to after the meeting. I am just pulling it up here, so again, I can put it in the comments. It is the same link that we normally use. It's not changed. Uh, but I've put that down there in the comments, so have a, have at it. Let me, um, just do that. There we go. Okay, so let's go through this here. Oh, I like this Matt, Josh Abbey. Awesome song. Before I've even heard it. I know it will be. Such an encourager, you, dude. Uh, I love living Hope you, me too. Beautiful song. The acceptance, honor, comfort, and Safety found in God's arms doesn't compare. That's [00:42:00] very true. That is very true. Abby. Um, I love that question. I mean, it's, again, you could spend so long on that one question, couldn't you? The acceptance, honor and comfort found in, uh, God's arms doesn't compare. Can you imagine? Thinking that through. Right. So what about acceptance? Let's take the ex, the word acceptance first. God accepts you. That is a fundamental, life altering mind bending statement right there. Um. That doesn't mean necessarily God condones everything you do. I do. I do wanna be clear on that. Um, but he fundamentally accepts you, warts and all, everything. He accepts you. He loves you, and He, you are part of his family. You are part of his grace. You are part of his life and his love and everything that he's got going on. You are, you are. If you, if you can say that Jesus is your Lord, you're in. [00:43:00] You're accepted. I'm not more accepted than you. You're not more accepted than me. There are no favorites. They just, we're all in in, it's kind of black and white. It's like the light. It's either on or it's off. You're in or you're out. And we are accepted. God accepts us. That's awesome. What about honor? Who honors you and where do you get that from? And this I think is especially important to men. So men listen up. Uh, this is important because as men, I think fundamentally there is a. There is a desire to be honored and men tend to gravitate to places where they feel like they are being honored. And if you don't feel like you're being honored, you tend to walk away from it. Um, and so this is true in any relationship, in any marriage. Um. You know, you want to be honored, whatever that means and looks like for you. Where do you get that honor? Where are you looking for it? Where does it come from? And what does it mean when God [00:44:00] honors you and you honor God? Where do you get that from? What does honor look like for you in the Christian world? Ah, so good. This, these questions are great, Abby. Comfort. Yeah, I think comfort's a bit of a, it's a bit of a misnomer, isn't it, really? It's not. You can be comfortable, which means you're in your box. And I think sometimes, uh, there are seasons where we go through seasons of comfort, which is great. Um, but I think there are seasons where God stretches us and moves us out of our comfort zones. That's part of the Christian journey. That's part of the love and joy, uh, of being a Christ follower, is he takes you where you would never thought you were gonna go, but although he challenges you, although he calls you out. Of the box for want of a better expression. Uh, the next word there, safety is paramount. And God is cautious with you. He's safe with you. He's got a plan for you. Um, there is no safer place than being in the will of [00:45:00] God. You know what? Um, I sit in Liverpool at the moon's, a relatively safe place, uh, in the world. Um. You could argue there are definitely places in the world that are not safer, uh, war torn countries, which is true. But let me tell you, if God calls me to go there, to be there, that's the safest place for me to be despite what's going on around me. Um, so, you know, it's, uh, it's safe. Right? What else have we got going on here? Um. Matt's put disclaimer, Josh Jones'. Oh, okay. That's 'cause you said Abby. Sounded cool. Okay, well done Matt. Just, you know, picking up the love for Josh. Um, Abby, what have you put here? Fill in my mind with the words of God to help me say yes to him. Filling me with his strength. That's great. A what's God doing? What's God saying? Filling your mind with God's words. I bet Abby actually, and maybe you can tell us this next time, but what I find when you prep a talk, when you prep a [00:46:00] sermon, 'cause you study it out and you research it and you, you are probably spending way more time in God's word than you normally would do. He gets, I don't know who gets more blessed, the people listening to it or you as you prepare it, and it's such a great thing to be able to do and you just feel strong and like he's talking to you. Um. Matt's put here. Thanks, Abby. Thanks Josh. Great stuff, great plan. Reuse of songs, join Thinking. Awesome. Thanks Matt. Appreciate that feedback. Um, I'm with Abby. Spending time meditating on God's word has helped me a lot. It strengthens me from the inside out. That's awesome. That's awesome. And actually, I would probably say that it is, uh, you know. I go to, isn't it, babe, that whenever something's going on, first thing you gotta do, go spend time in God's word, meditate in it, and let God's word strengthen you. Let faith come, let faith arise and be built. Thank you. [00:47:00] Thank you to everyone for joining us at Matt's Backyard Shed Church today. Uh, Matt, is this what you're saying the new name should be? Last week we talked about this. Do you remember? We're thinking about renaming from Line City to something else, which is a little bit more, uh, uh, you know, and keeping with what we're doing a bit more, you know, kind of bit more says what it is on the tin. Uh, and so, uh, Matt's Backyard Shed Church just has a really nice. Sort of ring to it. I'm not sure it's that open or inviting, but says what it is on the tin mat. Appreciate that. Uh, any other thoughts on church names? Do letters name, uh, Sarah. Great word, Matt. The safest place you can be is where God has called you to be. Absolutely no doubt about it, especially true for you being an a and e doctor. Uh, you know, in this crazy, crazy time. Um. We believe that, you know, you are safe where you are. So, absolutely. Woo, good to go through your comments guys. Really, really appreciate your thoughts and your insights, your comments and your, uh, ideas As [00:48:00] usual. Uh, do keep them coming now, um, let me just give you a few bits of information. Number one, uh, we have our final week of Alpha on Friday. Can you believe it on this alpha, we will be doing a new one, which we'll let you know about, um, and keep you up to date on that. Um, so New Alpha is coming. It's the last one this Friday, on Sunday next week at 11:00 AM we will be meeting again for a walk. Um, and you know, I. A good walk where, where we're all spaced out and doing things that we should be doing, which is great. Uh, we will pick a location, so, um, it will probably be down at the docks, um, this time. So we don't wanna just wanna do a, 'cause there's people all over the place, so we wanna, you know, make it easier for everybody to sort of, uh, get a different time. So, uh, I would venture to say that next week at 11:00 AM we will meet at the gates. To the Albert Dock. You know the ones that I mean where, um, just opposite the Hilton [00:49:00] Hotel on the other side of the road from the Hilton Hotel. Uh, if you could head there for 11 and join us, that will be great. It was great to see so many folks there today. I am now gonna end the broadcast. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for watching. Uh, I pray you experience God. In the church service, it's brilliant that we can do this. Love the technology, love the fact that God's connecting with people all over the world and that Jesus is building his church. Yes, it is fantastic to be a part of it, and we love doing this. We do. We love doing the live stream, live streams, and we will keep on doing them. So we will be back here next Sunday at 4:00 PM carrying on uh, our study in the Gospel of Mark. Uh, so have a great week wherever you are. God bless you. Do come join us in Zoom if you'd like to catch up on Zoom on the video call, uh, where we will carry on our discussions and. Pray and just catch up and it'll be great. So if you do wanna come join us in Zoom, it'd be great to see you there. Otherwise, we will either see you at Alpha on Friday night, [00:50:00] the walk next Sunday morning, or back here 4:00 PM for the next Facebook live session as we go through Mark's gospel. Have a great week wherever you are. Um, bless you. Stay safe, be strong, and just enjoy being accepted by God is awesome. Alright guys. Bless you. Bye for now.