Breaking Bread Together: The Quiet Power of a Shared Dinner Table
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
"Breaking Bread Together: The Quiet Power of a Shared Dinner Table," dives into the eleventh chapter of Acts, shedding light on the power of shared meals and their spiritual implications. Breaking Bread (eating together) Breaks Barriers.
You don't have to be part of a traditional family to enjoy a shared meal either. Let's remember, Jesus was a single man, yet He was often the life of the dinner party. He was there, breaking bread and sharing stories.
A recent study showed that having family meals can reduce the chances of divorce by 30%.
Throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus breaking bread with all kinds of people - tax collectors like Levi, vast crowds like the feeding of the 5000, and even His own disciples at the Last Supper.
Top Tips:
Make Time for Shared Meals. Set aside specific times each week for shared meals.
Invite People from your four concentric circles: the circle closest to you is often your family and really close friends. The next circle out is your friendship group; the next circle are people you know, such as colleagues, neighbours and so on. Then the final circle are people that you don't know.
Invite Diversity to Your Table.
Nurture Intentional Conversations. Use mealtimes as an opportunity for intentional, meaningful conversations. Draw inspiration from Jesus, who used meals as teaching moments.
Share the gospel. The dinner table is a great place to talk about this gospel, this good news, the good news of Jesus and that this dinner table is just a shadow of the heavenly banquet table, which represents the invitation of God's kingdom.
Inviting people around for a meal might seem overwhelming, especially with our busy lives. But remember, it's about small, consistent efforts. You don't have to do it all at once. Start where you are, with what you have. You might not be able to invite folks around for a meal, but what about a cup of tea? Get creative.
Never underestimate the power of sharing a meal. Being intentional in setting aside time to eat with others can make a real difference in your life and the lives of others. Breaking bread breaks barriers.
💬 CONVERSATION STREET --
Matt and Rach discuss:
The importance of breaking bread and eating meals together to build stronger connections with others.
Sharing meals creates a sense of belonging and community and can combat loneliness.
Inviting people for meals can break down barriers and create a warm, welcoming atmosphere.
The biblical concept of breaking bread and the Lord's Supper, and Jesus' act of sharing food after the resurrection.
The act of eating together can lead to beautiful connections with people from different cultural backgrounds.
Sharing food with people in need can be a powerful act of generosity.
God is seen as lavish and wants us to enjoy food and celebrations together.
Eating together doesn't have to be formal or difficult; it's an opportunity to build connections and show love.
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All right, close your eyes and imagine this with me. You are seated at the dinner table. But not just any dinner table. Oh no, this one is decked out like a grand feast, straight from one of those fancy cooking shows. There's a plate piled high of all your favorite foods and the colors are popping on the plate like the King's Coronation fireworks. Oh yes, greens, reds, yellows, and the alluring golden brown of the perfectly cooked, roasted meal. Oh, now here comes a good part, the aromas. Ah, the aromas. You've got the mouthwatering scent of freshly baked bread wafting around you. The roast is sending out an irresistible perfume that's saying, "Come on, dig in." There's a crisp colorful salad on the side sprinkled with zesty lemon dressing that makes your taste buds tingle. And don't even get me started on the apple pie cooling on the windowsill. You can almost taste the sweet, warm flavor that's a cozy hug on a winter's day.
Anyone else hungry after that?
Oh yes, now this is not a food show. No, no, no, this is an online church. So imagine who is sitting with you at the table because it's not just about the food, right? It's about the company. It's about who's laughing at your jokes, sharing your stories, as well as who's passing the mashed potatoes. These moments around the table are some of the most genuine and intimate connections we can make, regardless of our relationship status. Shared meals can be the great social equalizer, fostering a sense of belonging, improving our mood, and enhancing our relationships. And that's what we are gonna be talking about today, what Christians like to call breaking bread together. The quiet power of a shared dinner table. Oh yes, now we've been working our way through the book of Acts. Over the last few weeks, Sharon has done a marvelous job talking about the Apostle Peter and a chap called Cornelius. And in this story, Peter has quite a detailed vision that causes him to rethink a lot of his prejudices. And he goes to Cornelius' house and all of Cornelius' family become Christians and the Holy Spirit falls on them, which is pretty groundbreaking at the time, as God shows us that he is for all humanity, not just the Jews, which is good news for you and me. So what happens next?
Well, let's read, shall we, from Acts 11. It says, "Soon the news reached the apostles "and the other believers in Judea "that the Gentiles had received the word of God. "But when Peter arrived back in Jerusalem, "the Jewish believers criticized him."
That's pretty fascinating, isn't it? God breaks through into the Gentiles something that we should celebrate, something we should rejoice in. Yet this chapter opens up with Peter, the Apostle Peter, being criticized by the other church leaders,
which talks a little bit about the church structure at the time and the leadership structure, which we could get into, but we're not going to. What we are gonna say is it doesn't really make a whole great deal of sense to me. So why did they criticize Peter? Well, let's read on. "You entered the home of Gentiles and ate with them," they said, verse three. Well, at first glance, this seems quite innocuous to me. He broke bread with Cornelius. But eating food that wasn't correctly tithed, well, that was a problem. That was seen as defiling. You see, you were only supposed to buy food from someone who followed the tithe rule and only accept a meal if the hostess was a stickler for tithing. And we can do the same these days by making decisions to eat only, say, organic food, for example, and it becomes easy to judge others that don't have the same standards that you have. And also, eating together was more than just about food. It was about building trust and intimacy and dialogue. It was like signing up for a friendship, which is why Peter done it with a Roman could look a little bit like he was being a traitor, which again is easy to do, I think, in the modern day. So imagine hearing of a close friend that sat down to eat with someone you dislike passionately, like, I don't know, a known racist. You can start to empathize with these church leaders because they weren't that stoked about Peter eating with somebody that they didn't like either. You see, we still judge others by who they are seen eating with. We still do it today. And that's why they kicked off rather than celebrated. But to come full circle on this passage, Peter defends his actions, and then later in verse 18, it says, "When the others heard this," when they heard Peter's defense, "they stopped objecting and began praising God. Finally, they have seen the light. They said, we can see that God has also given the Gentiles the privilege of repenting of their sins and receiving eternal life."
And what a privilege it is. And it's all good in the end. So, phew, well done, church leaders. But this story got me thinking about this idea of a shared meal. The unwritten rules we have about who we should and shouldn't eat with, and losing sight of the power of a shared meal. You see, breaking bread breaks barriers. When we sit down together and eat, it's about more than just filling our bellies. It's like a secret social glue that binds us. We share laughs, we swap stories, and maybe reveal a little more about who we are. Breaking bread breaks barriers.
And you don't have to be part of a traditional family to enjoy a shared meal either. Let's remember, Jesus was in fact a single man. Yet he was often the life of the dinner party. He was there breaking bread and sharing stories. So it's about something other than having a conventional family setting. This is not just something that married couples do. It's about intentionally breaking bread with people regardless of their or our marital status. Breaking bread breaks barriers. It's not actually that easy to say. Now, of course, a shared meal does have an impact on married life as well. Like many of you, I'm married, my life is busy, I'm running my own companies, being part of the leadership team here at Crowd Church, which is amazing by the way. And of course, lovingly embracing my role as the husband, as a father, and not to mention being a committed member of my extended family. Life can feel a little bit like a whirlwind.
But despite this, Sharon and I have the tradition of eating together as a family in the evening as often as possible. It's a moment of connection, a chance to press pause and sit together, but let me be honest,
it can be hard to be truly present. See, the days demand the unfinished projects. They can always be looming in the back of my mind. And then there's the biggest distraction of our age, the smartphone. Oh yes, even at the dinner table, it is tempting to glance down at this thing, right? Before I know it, I've traded the real faces around my table for my phone seductible. Now honestly, being totally truthful, Sharon actually told me off the other day for doing just this, and quite rightly so. She had very good reason. A recent study showed that having family meals can reduce the chances of divorce by 30%.
30%, that is, mah-hoo-sive, as we like to say, but there is a caveat to this. There can be no screens at the dinner table, no TV, no phones, no iPads.
Why? Because as Sharon instinctively knows, they stop the connection with everyone else around the table, and that connection, being present, is the key for breaking bread to break barriers, and to bring that massive reduction in the divorce rate.
And not just with those who look like us, talk like us or think like us, but also those who maybe have a different perspective, people from different walks of life, from different cultures, different belief systems. You see, Jesus ate with a tax collector named Zacchaeus. Peter in Acts here is criticized because he ate with Cornelius, a Roman and a Gentile. But they saw both Jesus and Peter, breaking bread, breaks barriers. So what stops us from doing this more? Is it time, is it energy, busyness, the pressures of life,
fear of those awkward silences, of running out of things to say, or opening our lives up to others? Let's face it, right? Life is complex, and so there are a whole host of reasons that stop us. So let me ask you a question.
When was the last time you had people around your dinner table?
Breaking bread, breaks barriers. Now in Luke chapter 14, in one of the gospels, Jesus tells the parable of the great banquet. He paints a picture of a generous host who opens his doors to the poor, the disabled, the blind and the lame. And in this story, the banquet wasn't about the food or the decorations, but it was about the people. It was about inviting those who could never repay the invitation. And this parable illustrates to me the importance of a shared meal and God's generous invitation to all of us, an invitation to life together in his kingdom, which is pretty awesome and something we should remember whenever we sit down to eat food. Now throughout the gospels, we see Jesus breaking bread with all kinds of people.
He's also teaching tax collectors like Li-vey, vast crowds like the feeding of the 5,000 and even his own disciples at the Last Supper. You see, these weren't just meals, but they were opportunities for teaching, for connection and demonstrating kingdom values of love and grace. So let me ask you another question. When was the last time you had people around your dinner table, who were a little bit different to you?
Now the tradition of the Sabbath meals in Judaism also emphasises shared meals as well. The Friday night dinner, the Saturday lunch and the aptly named third meal each carried an atmosphere of joy, of reflection and fellowship. Then the early Christians, they had communal meals as well, also known as agape feasts, or agape, or agape, if anyone in the world, which provided an opportunity for fellowship unity and support. In the church we have communion, the Eucharist, the Lord's Supper, the actual breaking of bread and drinking of wine, sharing food and remembering Jesus and all that He has done for us. Now these meals connect us, don't they? They connect people to God and each other. They're a feast for your stomach and your soul. Oh yes. So let me ask you yet another question.
When was the last time you had people around your dinner table from all walks of life and it felt like Jesus was there too? Like that meal was a holy thing.
Breaking bread breaks barriers so I invite you today to take a leaf out of Peter's book, challenge your comfort zones and transform your dining tables into platforms of change.
We can use our dining tables to break bread, bridge gaps and build bonds because in doing so we aren't just hosting a meal, we are extending God's love. And who knows, you might experience a divine encounter right there at your dinner table just like Peter did.
So I want to challenge each of us, me included, to commit to a simple yet transformative action. Let's just invite people around for a meal. So how do we go about doing something like this? Matt, sounds great. Let's talk practical. Okay, number one of my top tips, make time for shared meals. I appreciate that this is, well that's very obvious isn't it? The reality of it is shared meals only happen if you make time for them. And this is true if you live alone or if you're part of a family. You have to set aside specific times each week or each month for a shared meal. And when you eat, do what Sharon tells me to do. Lay aside the screens and connect with those around you. For our family, we eat together at six most weeknights and we will have people eat with us at least one of those evenings. It's actually a rarity when there are only two or three people at the dinner table. It's a bit of a free-for-all at the weekend and that works super well for us. Saturday is the Sabbath day in our house and quite often we cook something together at lunch and part of the extended family usually turn up which is lovely and we just have a great time. So make time. Number two, another obvious statement, invite people. Now I appreciate I'm going to be using the word intentionally a lot during this talk but that's what we've got to do, right? We have got to be intentional. We have got to set sometimes aside, you know, the times when we can do shared meals and then we have to deliberately and intentionally invite people to come eat with us. They don't just turn up.
Sometimes they turn up at our house. But most of the time we have to be intentional and invite them. So who do you ask?
So here I want you to think of four concentric circles. With you in the center circle, the circle closest to you is often your family and your really close friends. The next circle out, that's your friendship circle. And then the next circle are people you know such as colleagues and neighbors and so on. And then the final circle, well that's full of the people that you don't really know. For Peter, this is where Cornelius would have been. So you should intentionally invite people from each circle and the closer they are to you, the more frequently you're going to be eating together. But don't just eat with family and close friends and think you're done, right? This is one of the things we learn from this story. Think of others too and watch out for opportunities to invite folks from those other circles. And if you want to make this easier on yourself, one of the things that we do is when we ask folks to come to dinner from the outer circle, people that we don't really know that well, well we invite some of our friends from the inner circles as well. This integrates people and takes the pressure off us. For example on a bonfire night, we have families usually come round to refugees and asylum seekers. They might not speak a whole great deal of English if I'm honest with you. And so we invite other close friends to come and celebrate with us and that whole thing just works if I'm honest with you. So tip number three, invite diversity to your table. Make it a point to invite someone different from you to share a meal. This could be a neighbor from a diverse cultural background, a colleague with a different political view or someone from another social or economic class.
Let's copy Peter's example of breaking traditional barriers and eating with those that maybe think differently.
Number four, nurture intentional conversations. Oh yes, there's that word again. Now use mealtimes as an opportunity for intentional meaningful conversations. Nick and Jenny Harding do this really well. And we can also draw inspiration from Jesus who use meals as teaching moments. Share your experiences, listen empathetically, ask open ended questions and encourage others to share their views. The Jewish Shabboth meal starts with a recitation of blessings. So if you don't know where to start, just start by saying what you're grateful for.
Number five, if you're a Christian, if you are a Christ follower, listen up because here we can share the gospel. At every shared meal, strive to create an atmosphere of God's grace, mirroring his genuine and generous banquet, which was depicted in Jesus's parable. Recognize that everyone at the table is precious to God and God wants all of us to come to know him. And the dinner table is a great place to talk about this gospel, this good news, the good news of Jesus. And that this dinner table is really just a shadow of what is to come of the heavenly banquet table, which represents the invitation of God's kingdom, the promise of fellowship with God, the celebration of God's ultimate victory and the future joy that believers will experience in God's eternal kingdom. It's amazing. And every time we have food, it's like a shadow, a foretelling of that. It's a symbol of the feast of blessings and grace and eternal life that God offers to all who accept his invitation. It's a reminder that the kingdom of heaven is not restricted by earthly divisions, prejudices, or standards, but it is available to everyone who responds to God's call with a willing and open heart.
Man, that changes meal times when you think of it like that, doesn't it? And if you're not yet a Christian, if you're not yet a Christ follower, let me tell you that Jesus invites you to his table to fellowship with him both in heaven and here on earth. And if you ask me, it's a pretty awesome, fantastic deal. And if you want to know more about this, head over to go.crowd.church forward slash more, which runs through what it means to be a Christian in detail. Now, inviting people around for a meal might seem overwhelming, especially with our busy lives. But remember, it's about small, consistent efforts. You don't have to do it all at once. Start where you are. Start with what you have. You might not be able to lay on a full gourmet meal. But what about a cup of tea?
Especially if you're British. You know, we can be a bit more creative, can't we? But a cup of tea is a good place to start. Never ever underestimate the power of sharing a meal. Be intentional in setting aside a time to eat with others and make a real difference in the lives of those around you. Breaking bread breaks barriers. The dinner table is more than just a piece of furniture. It is a platform. So imagine if each of us opened up our tables a bit more to our friends, to those close to us, to those we know and to those on the periphery, and even, even those we don't know yet, to someone new. Suppose we intentionally engaged in this simple act with deeper conversations as we pass the bread around. What a difference that could make. So who will you invite to your table this week? What conversations will you encourage? How will you transform your meals into moments of meaning?
Remember, breaking bread breaks barriers. So let's break bread and let's break some barriers.
Coming up, we have Conversation Street. But before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast, What's the Story, which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps.
Then once you become a Christian, I found to then accept that God loves me without me doing anything, without me winning a single medal, you know, without me accomplishing anything. And so I think for me coming out of that world of sport, that has been one of my biggest challenges and biggest battle.
Oh, it's come on to me.
That's the same to me. I'm not actually sure which camera is going to come on first because I can't remember where we've left it. So yes, and to go with our 80s references from earlier, I have actually been wearing this all day just by accident, which is great. So welcome back to Conversation Street. I'm going to put this camera on so that you can see me.
So yeah, we're going to get into your questions and your comments.
And there's a lot. So there's a lot to go on and talk about in that. So we're going to get into that. Are there any questions, any more thoughts on the topic of breaking bread or eating meals together? Like them in the comments next. We're going to get into it. But first, just to pay homage to where's it gone? Where's my mouse gone? There it is. You're correct, Mr. Crew. Mike Harris is a legend. He's just put that in the comments. Although he's not dating on my screen for some reason.
Where's that gone? It's slow.
Yeah. Sunday. Yeah. Who knows? I can see it on here. I can see it on this computer. But you're right. Mike Harris is a legend. So check that podcast out if you have yet not heard it. What's the story?
Is a great podcast. And Rach, you were saying this on Amazon. You were surprised it was on Amazon. I was well impressed. I was like, oh, look at that. Well impressed. It is on Amazon Music. Yeah. Apple, wherever you get your podcasts from, Spotify. It's all there. Do check it out. And Anna is an absolute legend. She's doing great with the podcast. So Mike Harris is a legend. So yeah, it's a good episode. Very good episode. Anyway, shall we get into it? Yeah. Let's get into it. What's this? The Goonies is compulsory viewing.
Very true. I think so. Very true. I think it's so, so important.
My children wouldn't agree, but hey ho. Have they seen it? They've seen bits of it. And then my husband just thinks what's all the fuss. But what? No. I just have a word with Al. Honestly, I just love it. I love it so much. I think it's brilliant, but nevermind. Nevermind. Indeed, the Goonies is indeed compulsory viewing. So regardless of what Al says, it's a great movie. Yeah.
I think you have to be of a certain age though. I think because I grew up, you and me grew up in that era, didn't we? And so it just gets in your head and it's part of your childhood. So me and my sister now bond over the Goonies. So we're happy with that.
And you, Matt. Yeah, absolutely. I'm a big Goonies fan. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
Cool. Right.
Yeah. Let's get into the comments and conversation streak. Rachel, let me put this camera on you because I think if I press that one there, there you go. Hello. What stood out to you?
Initial thoughts, comments. Let's start there and I'll pick up some of these comments. Well, I know from personal experience that it is something that you and your family live out. It's just what you do as part of your culture.
At times it appears effortless to you. I don't always know that it is maybe, including extending your table, but you do it brilliantly as a family. And me and my family have benefited from that. So thank you for doing that. No, you're welcome. And we've benefited, it is vice versa. It's not like we don't invite people around. We have eaten a fair amount of your food over the years. Yeah.
I just think you are gifted in this whole area.
And so, but I think what I picked up from what you're saying is that it doesn't have to look a certain way. We can extend our homes or our social time or our eating time to just include more people. And that's what I got from what you were saying. So it doesn't have to look necessarily a certain way, does it? Where I've only extended my table if I do it a certain way. God's creative. And I think as we talk, God might just give us more ideas of how to do that. That's what I was thinking. Yeah. Yeah, totally. I think you're totally right. It's something that we picked up from people like Nick and Jen and Dave and Julie, which if you're familiar with the early days of the church that Rachel and I go to, they were the family and pastors. And we were always, always, always around their house for dinner, weren't we? And when we were students, one of the really cool things that I really loved, we would all get together and be like, "Right, well, I'm going to go to their house this week. You're going to go to their house because you went to theirs last week and I want to go to theirs now." And we'd have these conversations, wouldn't we? And we'd be like, "Right. So let's just go and just invade all the... Just like Dave and Julie, Nick and Jen, Simon and Patty, all of those kind of people, Dave and Debbie Anderson.
And they were brilliant. Just every Sunday, we would just come and devour all their food. Paul and Judy. Yeah, Paul and Judy, everybody. And we would just eat at their houses, which was great. So I think we learned it from them.
And one of the things that I realized was eating with people.
I was a Christian at the time, right? But it made me feel like I was part of the family. I came from a broken family.
And so it meant that I could see what normal happy family looked like. So you got to hang around Dave and Julie whilst the meal was being prepared. And you got to see how they did life and how they looked after their kids.
It's not like I took a notebook, but it's just amazing some of those big lessons you pick up. Yeah, you do. And also you learn how people do conversation, how they talk about what's going to happen in the week, how they plan, even how they resolve disagreements, just the whole thing. You just learn life from people. And yeah, it's really, really important.
Yeah, loads of stuff just goes in by osmosis almost. And you're like, oh, and then I always think it's great if you do something and you go, ah, that's how I'd like to do it. And it models something and it gives you that sort of sense of, oh yeah, maybe I would like to change something as well. So I think we were very fortunate to have that. And probably in both of our families, we've continued doing that. You know, maybe opening up your home so that people can live with you or stay with you for a bit or what have you. So I think it's really important. Yeah. Yeah, I think it is. And I think it's how you do family with each other, isn't it? Yeah.
It's just this real simple act of eating food together. Yeah. That just, I'm just going to fly off my computer. This simple act of eating food together, I think it just creates this family environment in a way that very few environments do. Yes, I agree. And I think there's this great verse in the Bible where it says that God sets the lonely in families. And when you're in different stages of life, actually it can be a really lonely time. And so to be included into someone's home when you feel very lonely can make a massive difference. And I'm sure all of us can resonate with that at one time or another. So I think just combating loneliness is a really good thing to do for people. And it's something that is a big feature of the work that I do during the week as well. And so, but I suppose I was thinking, Matt, there are other ways to include people in your life.
If you don't want to maybe open up your home, a great example is my mum lives on her own. And once a month, her and her friends go to the local pub in their village and they all have Sunday lunch together. Nice. And now, yeah. And they're called the Sloan Rangers, which is such a cool name. And they've been doing that for about, oh, it must be over 20 years now. And anyone that's on their own can go and they all eat together.
They have a massive table together. And I just think there's different things that you can do.
And she, bless her, I hope she doesn't know what I'm saying, but she doesn't like cooking.
She doesn't like to cook, but she loves to have, like you said, cup of tea with people. Or every now and again, they might have, you know, like a glass of wine and nibbles together or something. So I think there's different things you can do. You know, you don't have to feel like you've got to put on a three-course dinner, do you? No, not at all. And I think this is what I was trying to say, just do a cup of tea, which is very, very British, is it? Yeah. Creek cucumber sandwiches and cup of tea, maybe. I think it's just the fact that you invite people around or invite people to something and you set aside everything else and you just focus on them. And it just makes people feel super connected.
And I think it's, I remember, I mean, we've gone out to restaurants, for example, for our Christmas bash at work. Right. So we take people out to the restaurant and we do that whole Christmas thing.
And what I found really hard with that, I mean, it's great, you know, the company pays for the meal, which is great. It's wonderful. And we have a great time. But what I find really hard with that is the loudness of the environment that you're in. Do you know what I mean? And because it's really loud, it's very hard to connect with whoever you're with.
And so having people. So what we did this Christmas is we said, right, well, let's get everybody around to the house. And so we put on a meal at the house instead of spending the money at a company meal, we we overcatered basically. But we bought a lot of food and we cooked a lot of food at the house. I thought it was so much better. Yeah, so much better because you could be much more intentional in the conversations. You could have much better conversations with people.
And so there's something quite nice about inviting people around. We've done things like when the football's on, we'll put the footy on and, you know, the guys bring beers and crisps and we'll sit in the back garden, we'll put the TV outside and watch it. Things like that. Just great fun. And they don't. It's not a lot of effort.
But the value that adds is quite extraordinary. Yeah. Yeah. And then I know that you invite, like you said, close friends and then people that you don't know as well. And it's lovely to mix everyone together. Yeah. I think it's sometimes it's interesting to think about where you live as well. And the people that live around you. And maybe I wonder if the Holy Spirit has got ideas for all of us about how we could just maybe connect that little bit more. Yeah. Sometimes it's even just taking the time to not rush off and actually passing the time of day with someone for that extra five minutes and then seeing what might come of that. Or, yeah, I mean, I've lived, we've lived in the same house for a long time now, so we know our neighbors quite a lot. So when there's a change or someone moves house, it's just like taking the time to go and say, hi, how are you? And yeah, showing that extended sort of part of, you know, extending.
So, yeah, I think your table can mean a lot of things, but also does include food as well. For sure. Of course it does. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It does. It's the heart behind it, isn't it? It's the like, I think it's just as powerful. I mean, I still I still remember who cooked for us when we had kids. You know, in our church, we did this thing where when you had kids, you were put on a meal, roto type thing. People would just randomly turn up during the day with some food, which they'd cook for you, which was such a blessing. Oh, brilliant. And it's gone down in legends, I think. In Liverpool, where we are. So now a lot of the midwives know about what we do. Really? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, well. So the words got out and so the whole thing of we get on average about a two week worth of meals, of meals, didn't you? Yeah. But when I had twins, I got three and a half weeks worth of meals. You should have had four because you had twins, surely. Yeah. But honestly, maybe a short change. No, it's true. The people that made the effort was incredible. I think you're right. Like sometimes doubling up on a meal. That can be a way of showing that, you know, and just blessing somebody. Yeah. Or, you know, if your neighbors.
Whatever, for whatever reason, that could help them. Or if there's been a bereavement as well or sickness in the family or anything like that. I just think there's something about sharing food with people. There are some times where, you know, if you're if you're an organized person, you can have your meal plan for the week and then you just feel like, oh, I'd like to share a bit more of my food and you don't have enough maybe for the next day or whatever. I've had a few examples where I've done that and then I've been blessed by someone else with food or, you know, so I just think if you're ever worried about lack or if you do it in faith, I just think God sees that. Yeah. And he will still bless you and you don't give stuff away to get stuff back. But I just think God's so generous to us that, you know, I think there's that whole part of it as well, which. No, it is totally. And God seems to be a big fan of food. I mean, I think so. There's a lot that happens in the Bible around food.
And yeah, it's interesting. So this, I guess, is a very interesting thing. It's interesting. So this, I guess, is just what I wanted to do with this talk was to encourage everybody to say, listen, this is a real simple way to connect better with friends, with family, but also with people maybe outside of our known circles. And I don't think there's any other way to give the gospel to somebody. Do you mean then get him around the dinner table and just chat?
It just sounds you relax, don't you? Yeah, you know, and if you if it's over good food, even better, even better indeed. Yeah. So Sharon's put here in the comments. My students who are women from mostly Arabic or Kurdish speaking nations seem to love it when I go to their houses and eat with them. Yes. It seems as though they feel honored that I've spent time with them and eaten their food. Yeah. And I certainly feel honored to be invited. Yeah. That's quite a powerful point. Yeah, I think when you go around someone's home and they offer you a cup of tea or coffee or food or just, you know, lay on treats. And particularly, I think other cultures are more practiced, I'd say.
There are there are certain families I visit as well from the Middle East. And honestly, I go around and I I plan in my working week to give them more time because staying to eat with them is really, really important. And I want them to know that I'm not that I don't want to cause offense. And it is a blessing as well because the food is incredible. Yeah. I have to say so. Yeah, it's not hard to eat the food. It's lovely. And the drinks incredible. And it's just that whole experience of eating together is just a really precious thing. So I totally agree. And then, yeah, Miriam said something about that as well, which was some Kurdish people at the Mount and after church. And yeah, just again, sharing food together and supporting people with food, with food banks as well. Yeah, honestly, it's so important. It's a big part of where I work and imagine if food poverty is a real big thing. And so I just think, yeah, that's a whole nother topic, isn't it? We could spend ages on that. But but God's not a God of lack. You know, he wants to lavish his goodness on us. And one of my favorite songs is Psalm 23, where it says you prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies and my cup overflows. And that can mean loads of things. But I do believe it means food as well. And God's provision. And even when it's really, really tough, God's preparing goodness.
And food's good, you know, and it is, isn't it? You heard it here first lady. Good. And enjoying food is a good thing. So God wants us to enjoy that, you know, quiet times by ourselves, but also including others as well. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So the question then is who will you invite round for a meal or cup of tea or do food for or whatever?
I think that's really, really that's a really valuable thing that we should keep doing. And it's biblical. And that's a beautiful thing. I love this because it's so practical. Yeah. I feel I feel in a nice way sort of encouraged, not not like challenged or like, oh, I feel really guilty. I haven't done this thing. But, you know, it can go in sort of seasons, if you like, you know, my kids have just finished term. And so I feel like I sort of go, oh, I've got a breathing space. And there are some people that I've been meaning to invite around for ages.
So actually now's my opportunity, isn't it? Yeah. To do that. And, you know, we were saying, oh, it'd be really nice to catch up. You know, like and so when you've got the time and the energy, it's like, well, seize the opportunity. And I think I do believe the Holy Spirit will be talking to all of us that are connecting now online and giving us ideas. So there's people that I've wanted to connect with for ages and I haven't. Well, you can fling them a text and we can reach out and connect again. Yeah. Can't we? Yeah, we can do something about it. And I think God's heart is for us to have that strong community family feeling and connection. And we are a diverse group of people in church. You know, we are. And but there's real strength and beauty in that in God's kingdom. It's the way God works. So he doesn't leave anyone out. No, it's totally true. I think the the interesting thing about the Lord's Supper. So why did Jesus Institute the Lord's Supper where you have bread and wine and you feel like you're part of the body of Christ?
And that's it. It's a relational thing. It's a covenant thing. You feel like you are part of the body of Christ whenever you do it. And so that spiritual. That spiritual kind of act and a lot of when we see that with food, when we invite people around, it helps people feel like they belong. Yeah. Do you mean it? Yeah. It's a really interesting thing that that was what Jesus chose. Yeah. And the first thing you did after the resurrection. Yeah. Yeah. Barbecued fish. I know. How cool is that? It's so great. I really wanted to taste that. So great. I think they must have been the best fish ever. I'm so looking forward to Jesus barbecuing fish in heaven. Yeah.
Well, that was one of the questions that came in actually. Andy said, do you think there'll be meat in heaven? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Meat, fish, herbs, oil, wine, all of it. Of course there is. It's like a proper the best. Imagine the best food you've ever had in your life.
And yes, there is amazing feasting, but not like but in a way that just feels really good.
No calorie cancelling in heaven. No, no. Because we'll all have new bodies and so it'll be just fabulous. Fabulous food. Yeah. The best wine you've ever had. Like the Bible is full of talking about new wine and oil and fragrances and spices. It's just chocka full of all these things. Yeah. God is so lavish. Yeah. I heard this great thing a couple of weeks ago about God wanting to bless us as well with His goodness. You know, and I know we've all got to be careful with money and everything, but sometimes every now and again, God might just want to say, just buy that thing that's a little bit more and enjoy it. Maybe enjoy it with somebody and that sense of celebration and feasting. And it could be something as simple as going somewhere for a nice coffee with a friend and just finding, I don't know, you might want to go to one of the branded outlets that we all know about for coffee, which my daughter thinks costs an absolute fortune or might be a little boutiquey coffee place or whatever. But God is God, God celebrates life and wants us to celebrate life with Him, with others. I just think, yeah, yeah, just it's lovely, isn't it? No, it is totally. Totally. So breaking bread, breaks barriers. Yeah. That's the lesson of the day. Yeah. Get people around, invite them around, connect with people
and see where it goes. Oh, Sarah's in the comments. Hey, Sarah, how are you doing? Hi, Sarah. I think Sarah had the baby. I think I don't know. I'm assuming so because it's been a few weeks. Do give me an update. Yes. But yes, great to see you in the comments. Now, if you are watching this and you're kind of going comments, I can't see anything in the comments. That's probably because you're watching on catch up rather than on the live stream. So yes, the video gets trimmed when we after the live stream. So it cuts out the beginning and the worship and stuff at the start. And so the comments get lost. So if you would like to come and join us in the comments, do come and join us in the live stream. We live stream every Sunday, 6 p.m. here in the UK, which I think is 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. I usually nine times out of 10. But on the website, I think I can put it on the screen. There we go. I can do that on the website. You can find out there's a link which will translate it to your time zone. But if you just click the, you know, the bell notification on YouTube and subscribe on YouTube, it will let you know when we are going live. I think you can come join in the comments. It'd be great to hear from you. And so Sarah had the baby. Congratulations. Congratulations. A few. Bless you. So yes, what's happening next week, says Matt, that's a very good question. I think we've got Pete Farrington next week, who's going to do the next in the series on the Book of Acts and knowing Pete is going to be great because Pete's an absolute legend. So we've got Pete Farrington next week. Then after that, Sarah says, thank you. I'm so relieved he's out.
Oh, bless you. I bet you are. I bet you are. That's
Matt says don't promote the Zoom. That's right. Because we don't actually have a Zoom over the summer holidays. But that said, if you would like to connect with us or connect with one of our community groups, there are some sort of cut down versions happening over the summer. Do get in touch with us via the website, www.crowd.church or on social media at Crowd Church. We would look to hear from you and help connect you into some of those things. But yes, so next week is Pete Farrington. Then in August, we have what we call the non-live live streams, which is where they kind of go out as live streams. They're not really live because everybody, we just say to everybody, let's just take August as our Sabbath month. Good idea. It is a beautiful thing. So everyone has a rest and we just program them in. And people are in the comments. Usually Matt Crew is in the comments all the time. Hi Matt. Yeah, absolute legend. So yes, break breads, breaks, breaking barriers. That's not actually an easy thing. I should have probably come up with an easier thing to say. You said it a lot of times, so it was really good. Breaks barriers. Yes. That's four Bs. There'll be some sort of English description of four Bs in a row is a thing. Yeah. Yeah. Sounds like my GCSE results. Awesome. Well, and on that bombshell, yeah, Matt will be in the comments still, which is great. So well done, Matt. Thank you everyone for joining us on tonight's live. So it's been great conversation. There was one thing that we didn't get into, but I feel like we've not had time, which is actually a scripture, which tells you not to eat with certain people,
which is, but that's a bit more about church discipline. You can go check that out if you wanted to. But yeah, it's great to connect with you. Great to talk about this topic. Let us know how you get on. Go and invite some people around and just let us know. Let us know your stories. And you know, it applies to every single one of you, regardless of what your own life and what you're doing, you can invite people around for a Coke or a cup of tea, probably a cup of tea slightly healthier, but you know, we're not counting calories. Awesome. Anything else from you, Ms. Rach? No, I just think you do an amazing job with running crowd, Matt. You're awesome. You are. You're great. Yeah. So yeah. And hooray for the Goonies.
Hooray for the Goonies. Hooray for the proud. Proud Goonies. Yeah, always. Did I tell you the story of the Goonies house? I've heard about the Goonies house. Yeah. It's very impressive. Very impressive. I probably said it on crowd like 4 to everyone. Some of the live streams go shut up. It's like you've been on some sort of pilgrimage or something like that. I've been to the Holy Land. Yeah. I went to the story at Oregon to see the Goonies house.
I feel a little bit like, you know, John Harding, who's the pastor of the church we go to. Yeah. John Harding is every sermonist like, did I tell you that I went to Israel? Yes. In Israel, I saw this. I'm like, did I tell you that I went to the Goonies house? Yeah. I just want to see truffle shuffles. Is that all right? Not live on air, you don't? Oh, no. We're not doing it. No.
Oh, awesome. Well, on that, I think we'll end it. Thank you so much for joining us. It's been an absolute treat and a pleasure. Really enjoyed this. And I loved that. I loved when you used first time in the studio. It is. It's well impressive. It's much better. It's lovely. Yeah. It's going to try to do a lot more of these. But yeah, awesome. Your legends have a fantastic week. We'll see you next time. That's it from me and Rach. See you. Ciao. Ciao. Ciao. Bye.
Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowdchurch. Now, if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live. And of course, if you are listening to the podcast, the live stream podcast, make sure you also hit the follow button. Now, by smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform, it helps us reach more people with the message that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life. So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website, www.crowd.church, where you can learn more about us as a church, more about the Christian faith and also how to connect into our church community. It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time. That's it from us. God bless you. Bye for now.
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John: In Acts chapter nine, we read the story of a man called Saul. Saul of Tarsus. Saul, a zealous, radical young Jewish man who had been commissioned by the Jewish religious leaders to find Christians. Jewish converts to Christianity, to round them up. To take them back to Jerusalem for trial and basically even use lethal force if necessary.
And that's what Saul did, and it would seem he was really rather good at it. He earned a reputation to be feared amongst these Jewish converts to Jesus. A highly trained, highly motivated, highly effective, and resourced agent of the Jewish nation, acting on behalf of the nation, attempting to crush, wipe out this new branch of Judaism called Christianity. Well, why was Saul doing that? Why had he been commissioned to do that? Well, basically for thousands of years for the Jewish people, they had been promised by God, a new leader, a new king, a deliverer, one who would free them from oppression and would reign forever. That's what the prophets of old had foretold.
And so the people were waiting for, longing for, praying for this, this Messiah, uh, who would come and rescue them. Then along came Jesus claiming to be that very person that Messiah, the one promised by God and foretold by the prophets of Old. He met every single criteria. He fitted the description of the Messiah perfectly and so many Jewish people, they could see that and, and so they accepted Jesus and they received him as their Messiah.
They weren't becoming Christians in their own eyes. No, they weren't converting to some new religion. They were in their eyes true Jews who'd received this promised Messiah, not an a king of an earthly kingdom, freeing them from, um, earthly oppression, the Roman occupation, but a king of a new spiritual eternal kingdom freeing them from the slavery of sin and death. This is Jesus and his followers at the time. You know, they weren't at that time called Christians. That came later, they were called the way followers of the way. We see that in acts.
Now many of the Jewish religious elite were not happy about this. They wanted to squash, crush, stop this new thing from happening to keep hold of power for themselves. And so they set out persecuting the, the followers of the way, the believers in Jesus. They had them arrested, imprisoned, killed for blasphemy. After all the, the confession of these followers of Jesus was the, their Messiah. Jesus was no less than God in human form.
So they tried to stop this blasphemy, and that's where we pick up the story of Saul today. And Saul is setting out to do just that. He's on the road from Jerusalem to Damascus in Syria. He's carrying official papers. He's got a team, he's got resources. He's gonna try and wipe out this rebellion, this blasphemy, and as he drives his horse out of the city towards Damascus, he's blinded by a light.
He's literally struck blind for three days. He couldn't see. He's thrown off his horse. He hits the ground. He, he, he heard a voice. Everyone heard the voice, a voice calling him by name. Saul. Saul, why do you persecute me? It was the voice of Jesus. It's a dramatic story. It's an impressive story. In fact, we still talk and use that phrase today, don't we?
We talk about a Damascus road conversion of seeing the light. We use it to talk of someone who's had a complete turnaround in life, a Damascus road conversion. And in this conversion Saul's name is changed to Paul, the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Paul then went on to write what most of the New Testament. He, he went on to lead countless people into relationship with Jesus.
He went on to plant churches right across the ancient Near East through into Europe, probably second only to Jesus in his influence in shaping the way. This new movement of believers, a remarkable man, a remarkable conversion, a remarkable turnaround from persecutor to pastor, from church destroyer to church planter.
If you are a Christian, a follower of the way, uh, you're probably quite impressed by Paul, like I am, maybe even a little intimidated. After all, we know that Saul of Tarsus was a brilliant young man. Highly academic. He trained under the leading Rabbi Gamaliel, uh, Saul was probably his nickname from the Hebrew, meaning to inquire, to question, to learn, and Saul was from a pretty impressive family, a, a true blood Hebrew.
He could trace his ancestry right back. His father was most likely a Pharisee, and he was on some sort of fast track into political, religious power. When we first meet him he's holding the coats of the senior religious leaders as they throw stones at Stephen, the first martyr for Jesus. I think the word we might use of Saul in today's setting might be the word privileged. Privileged, someone who had made it to the top of an elite system of which they were part of.
But Jesus disrupted Saul's plans. Jesus reached out to Saul and rescued him, and, and, and as I say, it wasn't like, you know, Saul did not. Um, convert to Christianity. Remember that title? Christian hadn't yet been invented at this point in the story. Rather, Paul encountered Jesus the promised Messiah, and so in his eyes, he became a true Jew in, in the sense not converted.
But he was given a new mission and a new purpose to now reach the Gentiles, to reach the non-Jews and to call them into relationship with Jesus Messiah, a job he does with incredible fervor and zeal. So in one sense, a remarkable man, a remarkable story. But in another sense, Saul's story is no different to our story if you know Jesus. You might not have been blinded by the light, or you might not have heard the audible voice of Jesus calling you. Few people do, but all of us were lost without Jesus. All of us were going our own way, our own sinful lives before Jesus reached out to us.
You know, if you were a Christian, you didn't find Jesus. Jesus found you. And he revealed himself to you and he called you by name and he gave you a new identity and he gave you a new purpose and mission. Saul's story is our story, and Saul went on from this dramatic encount encounter to spend something like 14 years in obscurity and anonymity before he set off on his first missionary journey to preach the gospel and to plant churches after such a dramatic conversion.
14 years of seemingly nothing, but it wasn't nothing. It was a period of serving, of preparation of training for Paul. And then Paul sets off on his journeys. By all accounts, he was incredibly successful and impactful in God's timing. Now, I think it would be easy to look at the life and the achievements of Paul and think we compare ourselves and think, well, I could never be like that.
We disqualify ourselves. We think, well, I've never encountered Jesus like that, or I don't have that sort of dramatic story. Or maybe we think we don't have the training or the heritage or the education or the family or the intellect of Paul, but I really wanna challenge that sort of thinking today. First of all, we all have a story, and Saul used his story really effectively. In the book of Acts, we see that Saul repeats his story on several occasions. He word for word. He, he even gets the opportunity to share his story to high flying Roman officials like Festus. In fact, I think it's possible that Paul got to share his story in Rome with Caesar, the top man.
Oh, that's just speculation. We don't know that, but. Saul had dual citizenship. Saul was also a Roman citizen by birth. That meant he had a legal right to appear on trial before Caesar, and that is how Saul's story ends. It ends with him under house arrest. And so if he gave trial before Caesar before being executed, you can bet that uh, Paul shared his story with Caesar. Saul shared his story. He used his influence, his position, his platform to share his story. He also used his suffering to share his story and so he, he was able to share his story because he was on trial, because he was under arrest, because he was in prison.
We can all share our stories. We all have a BC - a before Christ, and we all have a story of how we encountered Christ and we all have a story after conversion and we can share the difference that knowing Jesus has made to our lives is making to our lives. Some people have incredibly dramatic stories how Jesus rescued them from drugs and crime. Some people like me have pretty tame stories by comparison, but I love to share my story.
I love to share how we grew up in a Christian home, how my dad died when we were very young, 18 months old, how we were really poor. We, we were the poorest kids in school. That is my bc but through that time, Even as a kid, I knew God always provided for us. And so at the age of six, someone invited me at Sunday school to give my life to Jesus. It made such sense to me. And from that moment I've always known God is with me. I've always known that God is for me.
Uh, and I've been able to ask him for his strength and his peace. In the most challenging times of life, and he's given me that. That's just something of my story. We all have a story. Let's share that story with others. God wants to use that story. So we can compare ourselves and disqualify ourselves. One of the ways I used to disqualify myself was through my education.
I had such a bad substandard education through to 18, and you look at someone like Soul of Tarsus, I mean, Tarsus was the academic center of the ancient near East in modern day Turkey, and so he must have been like the creme de la creme to have ended up studying. Under Gamaliel in Jerusalem, and then you read Paul's letters like Romans and Galatians, and you're like, mind blown.
Wow. What intellect, what insight, what wisdom, what understanding. But the thing I love about this is that God decided in his wisdom, he decided to send Peter to lead the movement amongst the Jews. And to send Saul Paul to lead the movement amongst the non-Jews, the Gentiles. That does not make any sense whatsoever.
Why not send rough and ready Peter and educated Peter the fisherman to the Gentiles, and why not send the rabbinically educated Saul to the Jews? That's how we would've done it, you know, best Fit strategic alignment. But that is not how God did it, and God arranged it that way so that only he would get the glory. Only God would get the glory that Paul would know, that we would know. Paul's success was not down to Paul. It was down to God's power at work within Paul.
God loves to use unqualified people. He specializes in using the unqualified because then all the glory and honor goes to him. In fact, just as a little aside, um, I, I picked up from my studies recently, um, in, in a document written in the second century, early second century, not that long after Paul, a document called The Acts of Paul and, and, and Theckler, uh, not scripture, not divinely inspired, but historically important.
And Saul here was described as a small, um, man with crooked legs and a crooked nose. He's described as having a uni brow and having bad eyesight. I, I mean, basically he would've never made it on the stage of a megachurch or onto preach a sneak on Insta, you know, right across the world today. Jesus the same Jesus is still appearing to people, revealing himself to people and bringing people into his family and his mission.
Few weeks ago, a guy turned up to our church on crutches. Months and months earlier, he'd had a near fatal motorcycle accident. He'd felt his self leaving his body and he was dying, and he cried out to God. He said, God, save me. Spare my life. I'll go to church. That church that he passed every day, that's what God did. God spared his life. And in hospital, he was in hospital a hundred days. He came out of a coma. And he started to tell the chaplain about what he'd said to God about his experience and how he wanted to give his life to Jesus.
The chaplain led him to Jesus. Uh, a few weeks ago. He found his way to our church, a building he'd driven past many times over the years. No church background, no Christian experience. Jesus reached out to him and rescued him. I love stories like that, but you know, um, Right across the world today. Today there are still persecutors of Christians and there are still persecutors of Christians who are encountering Jesus in dreams and visions.
Iran, one of the strictest Muslim countries in the world, A country where you would be in prison and beaten for being a Christian. And yet, Iran has possibly the fastest growing church in the world, a secret underground church, right across the world today. Today, Muslims are converting to Jesus through dreams and visions.
And I have personally met a few people for whom that is their testimony. That's their story. Now, often they will have a very similar story. Often they've been fasting through Ramadan. These are really genuine, devout Muslims seeking God. On the night of power towards the end of Ramadan, they have a dream.
In the dream, they are visited by a man robed in white. When they ask him who he is, he tells them nearly always that he is the way and the truth and the life. And I've personally met a couple of people who came to Jesus - Isa in that way through a dream. In fact, a couple of years ago, I heard the story of a man who was high up in ISIS, terrorizing Christians, murdering Christians.
Uh, it is estimated around 200,000 Christians are martyred each year, even in today. Today's society, 200,000 Christians martyred each year across the world in our day. And I heard this story about a guy who was so moved by how Christian Martyrs died at the hands of ISIS, at his hands, that this ISIS jihadist met Jesus in a dream and gave his life to Jesus.
And the missionary who told me this was saying that they were praying for a thousand souls from out of ISIS. What a Prayer. Isn't that amazing? I absolutely love that. The religious leaders, 2000 years ago, at the time of Jesus, tried to squash and wipe out his message. They even had him killed, but they couldn't contain him. They couldn't contain the gospel. Saul was sent to persecute Christians. He became a church planter.
Communist China tried to ban Christianity, but there are now probably more Christians in China than there are Christians in France or Germany. Growing at a rapid rate. Nothing can stop The advancement of this new kingdom led by King Jesus. The same Jesus that revealed himself to Saul has revealed himself to us. He can reveal himself to you. The same Holy Spirit that lived in Paul lives in us.
2000 years later, and the gospel of Jesus has not lost any of its wonder working power. The simple gospel message when we receive it transforms life lives, turns lives around. And your story is powerful. Share it with someone because God wants to use you and your story for his glory and for the advancement of his kingdom just like he used Saul. Amen.
Matt: Coming up, we have Conversation street, but before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast. What's the story which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps.
Becky: I kind of had this idea that God was supposed to save us, like he was supposed to show up in a certain way in these times, and he was supposed to just like remove us from this pain and suffering and like, why God would you let these things happen? Like not just one of these things, but like these layers of difficulty and pain and disappointment.
I came to the realization like I'd always thought of God as a genie in a bottle. If I just say the right Prayer and wish the right wish, he should do this thing for me. He should give me what I'm asking for. And in return, I would spread his word and tell everybody that he healed me and tell all his miracles and everybody would come to him. And that was like the deal I had with him.
Dan: Well, welcome back. Welcome back to Conversation Street. Um, just a quick plug for that, the podcast, what's the story? Um, if you into hearing, like John said, people's lives transformed. It's brilliant. Just loads and loads of stories of ordinary people living now most in the uk, some America. That their lives have just been changed.
Brilliant. But back to the story, um, not the story. Back to the talk today. So Ruth, is there anything that really sort of jumped out at you from the, the talk that you thought,
Ruth: Yeah. Lots, lots of bits. That was good. That was good talk, wasn't it? Um, I, we did this in Sunday school a few weeks ago. Um, when I was reading it then, um, it wasn't even what John said actually just said, but, um, when Jesus, the first thing Jesus said was, why are you persecuting me, didn't he? Um, and I kind of thought, oh, But he wasn't persecuting you.
Jesus. He was persecuting people, Christians, the people of the way, but I love how that was, that was persecuting. Persecuting his people, was persecuting him. And I really, that really spoke to me that they're, they're one and the same. They're part, they're part of him. We're part of him.
Dan: Yeah,
Ruth: I love that,
Dan: yeah, yeah. When we get to know, we get to know Jesus. He's, yeah. The, the, we're, we're part of that, the way. but he said, he said, you know, would you like bring the little children to me because they're, you hurt one of these children. You hurt, hurt me. He doesn't leave us alone, does he doesn't, he didn't come and talk and, and go. He came and, and transformed. yeah. I love this talk and I, when we were, had a brief chat about it before, um, I love it because it is just transformation, isn't it? It's, we use it in everyday talk, not even Christian talk. Oh, had a, did you have a Damascus Road? You know, conversion did something. Did you get this bolt of lightning?
Which, which all did, I mean, John didn't actually go into that too much, but imagine being blinded for three days because you came in contact with the living God. It was pretty. Pretty big deal, isn't it?
Ruth: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. And three days. I was thinking that's, I feel like that's quite significant. Significant, isn't it? The whole three days because, um, Jesus was dead for three days. Like the whole him dying on the cross and rising again. That was three days. And that's what hap that's what happens without, without him.
We're darkness. We're in the tomb. We're we are dead. Um, and that's why, that's why we call born again Christians, aren't we? Because. We are, we It is, it's not just changing what you think or, or, yeah. Or putting on some different clothes or going to a different kind of college or school or church. It's, we, we are different because God does something different in us.
He, yeah. He takes us outta darkness into his light
Dan: Mm.
Ruth: yeah. Yes.
Dan: Yeah, it's like, um, John was saying that they weren't, weren't called Christians at that time. Cause it wasn't that they'd started a new religion. They just found that Jesus was the Messiah. He was the answer. He took them on so that their transformation was that their lives were transformed. So Paul's journey was transformed instead of he, instead of killing Christians.
Or killing those of the way he was now telling people about the way, but his life was going from, like you said, from being dead in his sins to, to that to being raised up and to moving. Moving on.
Ruth: Hmm. And he was still, he was sta not still the same person because he obviously, like God makes us with personalities, isn't he? And he, he, we are very individual to him. And um, he. Before he had this experience, he was so determined, so determined that he, you know, he was persecuting, he was putting in prison and getting people killed.
And that same determination of personality was still there, but he was, he was using it to how God purposed it, I guess, right in the beginning that he was so determined if you read the rest of his story, um, he was still the same person, wasn't he in that kind of way but this time he was determined to, to tell people what happened to him and, um, and get people into a diff Yeah.
Into this different way. Yeah. Even all of his persecutions were so incredible, the things that happened to him, but he, he was just too determined. Yeah.
Dan: yeah. And also, which I didn't realize, cause when John was talking, I wrote it down, he said, 14 years, and I had a quick Google. Such a long time from being, having this experience. Um, and, and then, then you read all about his travels and things happening to him. But there's lots that happened before that when he just, he got to know the, the new church and. I should imagine probably studied and realized, you know, through God's, how, how that all that he'd learnt in the past was a fulfillment. that it, even though we say it's like this, just Damascus road instantly, he still was being transformed, wasn't he? And it was a long time. Yeah. That, that, that makes me feel happy that, you know, sometimes just think, oh man, God, it didn't, I didn't have an experience like that, but it was, it was a big boom experience in terms of getting to know, you know, it literally knocked him off his horse, but he still spent that time learning and hearing and being prepared for what was coming forward.
Ruth: Mm. Yeah, but even, but that's lovely as well, isn't it? Because Jesus is so interested in us and he wants us to be, spend time with him being close to him. He's not interested in, it's not as, it's not the things we do, is it? It's, it's, it's been so he can show things at us. He can show us things and, and teach us things and change how we are thinking.
And, Yeah. I, I love that about him. It's,
Dan: Mm-hmm.
Ruth: it's us, isn't it? And I like, um, he said, um, about Jesus finding Saul. Like, Saul didn't find Jesus, did he? Jesus found him. I love that, because that's what he did for me. Like
Dan: Mm-hmm.
Ruth: he didn't just, he found me, but then he pursued me because I was so stubborn and unbelieving. He didn't just try once, he kept trying to, trying and trying until, until I could believe, until I said yes. Yeah. It's not, it's not us that find him, it's him that he, he that finds us.
Dan: Yeah. Yeah.
Ruth: it's good.
Dan: I like Graham's put in the comments that, uh, how interesting that he was blinded for a few days, but then he could really see
Ruth: Hmm.
Dan: then yeah, then you could really see Graham. Yeah. And um, and like David, there's a big gap between his anointing and him actually being king. The God prepares us well, Jesus was, can you imagine being the son of God?
And being on the earth for 30 years before you perform a miracle. I mean, I'd think about that sometimes and they just think the patience and all the stuff going around, but even, even Jesus needed, I presume, preparation. And um, and we can just take note of that, that he, he's preparing us, preparing us for new mission. Preparing
Ruth: it was to, sorry, go on.
Dan: no, just preparing us to tell, tell our story
Ruth: Yeah,
Dan: John was saying.
Ruth: maybe it was to prove stuff as well to us and other people. So, um, like if Jesus had just kind of come outta nowhere and done miracles, that would've been pretty, pretty cool. But he, people knew him as well, and they could, he was, he was living, I'm trying to say like he was living proof that he, and he wasn't being con, he wasn't contradictory to himself or, you know, People see you, don't they?
Every day in, in li in work and, and your family see you all the time. It's, it's kind of like that you've, it's gotta be 24 7. It's not just a Sunday thing. It's gotta be.
Dan: yeah. definitely.
Ruth: It's gotta be a, a real thing. Yeah. Um, I'm talking about persecuted Christians as well. Um, I've been reading a lot of, um, Richard Rembrandt, um, he's a, a Romanian and he was like in prison, so, So for so, so many years, when as, um, when it was a communist country and he, at one time he was in prison and he was there in their solitary confinement for three years.
Three years, like not seeing anybody else.
Dan: Wow.
Ruth: And I, I've often thought, wow, like what a waste of a man a life because he was such a good speaker and like a bit like Paul, maybe he was very int like very intelligent. But nothing's wasted. Is it? Is it nothing's wasted. And in those three years, God was, I don't know, just keeping him and, and, um, speaking to him.
And I don't know, with things we, it's things we can't see does just cause we can't see them. It doesn't, doesn't matter, does it? It's, it's this the stuff we can't see. That's probably the most important. Yeah.
Dan: Yeah. Some of the times when we just think what God, why? Why is it so?
Ruth: mm
Dan: is it so quiet? Why is nothing happening? Yeah.
Ruth: Why is it so hard? Yeah.
Dan: Yeah. God still works with us and like John was saying, all those stories, it's always the persecuted where the church grows cuz we realize that we can't do stuff without Jesus.
We have it cushy in this country, don't we? Um, and sometimes perhaps like that guy that knocked off his bicycle, sometimes it needs, it needs that, that shock. We go past church and that's like physically we drive past, he was driving past the church. But sometimes in our, just in our lives, we go past things every day and God needs that. We need that kick up the butt to, to get to, to see him, get to meet him,
Ruth: Yeah. And it, it makes, yeah, and it makes us decide, doesn't it? I was in Albania just a few y uh, weeks ago, and, um, the church we visited is quite small, but the Christians there because it's, it's a hard choice to become, to say yes, it's a hard choice to become a Christian. It's, yeah, it's not an easy road.
And so the people that are in that church, they are, they are. They've said yes. And that is it. So they're all in sometimes. Sometimes when you don't have to be all in it, it is too easy to, to cross over the other way, isn't it? And
Dan: yeah. To opt back out together or just take take parts of things. Take,
Ruth: All in is the, is the only way really. Yeah.
Dan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. I um, it's interesting that John said that they were followers of the way, cuz I was reading before in the message and the message always up until, um, they. Yeah, for quite a lot of the New Testament, he, it translates it as the way that there are follows of the way.
Um, and that's what they were called. Yeah, I like that. That it is. And that he said when, um, Muslims have had dreams that it's often he said, who, who are you? I'm the way, the truth and the life. Yeah. No, no other way around this. Yeah. I was, um, on a chat or something about someone's talking about God and they were saying, well, it's a bit harsh on other religions, isn't it?
And it is, isn't it? But God said, just come to me. I'm the way. The truth and the life there is, there is one. There's only one truth. And it took blinding light to knock Paul off his horse to find that, and some of us need that as well. And if, if you are, if you're there thinking, what, what is it about this Jesus, what is it about Christians?
Why do they keep trying different ways to tell us this message? This is why we do Crowd Church. It's to bring this message to you to say this Jesus is worth finding out about. Because it's that important. It's here's the way, the truth and the life. Um, I read again today about, um, so I don't know if it's sometimes some of the stuff you read on the internet, you don't know if it's a quote, whether it's true, but the logic of it is. Definitely true of a man called Pascal who was a mathematician in about 1600s.
And there's a, a computer language called Pascal that people learn. I learned a bit at university and, um, and he, anyway, he said, look, the logic of it, the stats of it add up. He said, we're only on the earth for 70, 80, 90, a hundred years. Got infinity to be with God. Look at, look at the maps of that. It's worth it. You know? Be a Christian and have eternity with Jesus. Don't be a Christian and miss out on that Salvation, have eternity without God. If you just wanna play the odds of probability, it's worth. It's worth knowing Jesus, but he's worth way more than playing the odds.
Ruth: Yeah. He's, John said something about that, didn't he? Logical? No, it made sense. He said Yeah, because it does, it, it doesn't make sense in like a, um, I think it took me a long time to become a Christian. Well, not a long time. I was 13, but considering the fact that I went to church when I was, you know, from zero
Dan: Yes. Yeah.
Ruth: 13 years is a long time, isn't it?
Um, and it took me a long time cause I, I. Couldn't, for me, it didn't make sense that he would love me. I couldn't, I could believe that he loved everybody. Like it's in a kind of general sense. Cause I knew that God was good, but didn't make sense to me that he would love me. So in that way it doesn't make sense.
But everything else makes sense. And what he, and if, but if you look at it in a different way, it does make sense because he made me, so why would he make me if he didn't, you know, if he wasn't gonna love me. Um, he knew me before, before anybody else was born. Um, he, he knew the plan. He knew what Jesus was gonna do.
He knew what we were gonna do, and he still, um, followed his plan. So it, it is logical. He's, I think he is a logical God, isn't it? He is, isn't he? And it's all, there is a lot of math and stuff in the Bible and I don't do that cause I don't do maths, but it is, he is logical. But, um, the mind blowingness of it.
It feels like it's not logical, but that's also why maybe I'm on tangent now. That's also why science is so people, people think you can't be a scientist and be a Christian, but it goes, they go together.
Dan: fits together.
Ruth: all together because everything was made by him anyway, and things couldn't work in science if it wasn't for God.
So how can they to how can they be apart? So yeah, I think. It. I know it. Everything is logical about it, but at the same time, it's mind blowingly logical, if you see what I mean? Yeah. When it comes to to person. To person. Yeah. Yeah. It, yeah,
Dan: I love, and, and on that, on that note of logical, it's also great that God turns things. On, on their head because, um, said, yeah, so there was this great Jew who could trace his lineage all the way back. And God says, okay, yeah, you've learned under the best people. Go and speak to the Gentiles and Peter, this fisherman that we always say, oh, he blundered through things and put his foot in stuff, but he's amazing, man.
Um, yeah, go and speak to the Jews. And I love that he just, he, we can put our trust in him. yeah. It might not seem the, it might not seem the, um, not logical. It might not seem where the facts, you know, I've studied all this. I'll go here. You just need to listen to what he's got for us and, and follow that word.
That's the, that's the important thing, isn't it?
Ruth: Mm. Yep, yep. Everything I've done in my life is not logical that I've done it. I think in a way, if you're looking at the world sense of logical, because I can't, cause I'm, yeah. Cause I'm just me, but I mean, I can't Okay. Because this seems stupid thing, but I, I can go to a place, like a big car, car park or something like that, right.
And I call my, go out of the door and turn right and go downstairs and I can't find, I won't be able to find my way back. Okay. Cuz my sense of direction is horrendous. But I've been like all around the world on my own. How could I do that if Jesus wasn't with me?
Dan: Yeah,
Ruth: That's one proof of my story.
Dan: yeah, yeah. God's definitely used you hasn't he to take you to all over. Just because you've,
Ruth: Well, yeah. I don't even, yeah, I mean, I hope that he's used me, but, but it's more, it's always more rather than using me. He's, he's blessed. It's more, he is more blessing than anything else really. Then he's done what he needed to do. You just need to say yes, Don't you, and then,
Dan: mm
Ruth: and yeah, it's, no, it's not a sacrifice really, when you come to think of it. Not at all. Yeah. And I like the other, I know we need to finish. He's talking about, kept talking about our story, didn't he? That it's your story. It's your story and um, um, that if you say your story, then nobody can really argue with you because it's your story. So I love that, that you, you don't have to be intelligent, like Paul.
Like, I'm not, I can't do that. I can't argue with people about doctrine and stuff, but I can say what, what God's done in me and my story, and I'm sorry, but you can't argue with that because you know what's gone on in your life, haven't you, don't you? Yeah.
Dan: Yeah, we're, yeah. And we're the example of that, aren't we? We are who we are because, because God has changed us. Yeah. And it, I've written on my notes here, a nice little square around it. It's, our life has been turned around and it's our, yeah, it's our story. Um, so if anything for, for those that know Jesus this week, just feel encouraged to, to tell your story. Like, like Ruth said, you can't, um, you can't argue with that cuz it's just who we are and it's our, it's our life. And those that don't, if you don't know Jesus, then find out about people's stories that do
ask them, ask them questions. You can send emails in to, um, if you just go to www.crowd.church um, send messages in there. There's a midweek zoom. Come talk to us. Um, God, God wants to get to, to know you and we won't get to tell you about Jesus if you travel on the bus to work. Get the, the, the what's the story podcast I've been doing those is I drive around with my job a lot, so I have one of the podcasts on and listen just to ordinary people telling their amazing stories about how God has, um, transformed their lives. Yeah.
Ruth: Yeah. What have you got to lose? That's the thing, isn't it? As Graham said, I like that word Graham, like what we all said in church, doing things with God rather than doing rather than without Him is the best thing. Yeah.
Dan: Mm-hmm.
Ruth: There's nothing to lose. This is the thing. Yeah. And you could say, like I was saying, in Albania, there's physical things like they would lose friends. You know, when you're being persecuted, yes. You lose physical things. But like Dan said about the scale of eternity and now when you think, look at it that way, there is nothing to lose. Yeah.
Dan: Yeah.
Ruth: Yeah.
Dan: Well, I think we've drawn to an end there, but thanks so much, Ruth. I think, um, I think you need to come back on. Again, perhaps there's another host. Um, and next week, again, just to, to let you know, Sharon is doing the talk on the power of healing. So looking forward to that and I'm afraid it's me again next week, but with the wonderful Matt, and I think we might do it in a new studio,
Ruth: Yeah.
Dan: we'll be there in person talking to each other. Ooh, very fancy. So yes, looking forward to that. So thanks very much. Um, and God bless you all, and we'll see you next week.
Ruth: Yeah. Bye everybody.
Matt: Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church. Now if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as that little tiny bell notification to notified the next time we are live. And of course, if you are listening to the podcast, uh, the Livestream podcast, make sure you also hit the follow button. Now by smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform.
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It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time. That's it from us. God bless you. Bye for now.