Beyond Anxiety: Embrace Peace that Lasts
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
Beyond Anxiety: Embrace Peace that Lasts
In a world where the dictionary of daily life rarely aligns with the one provided by the divine, understanding peace can often seem like interpreting a foreign language. We find ourselves grasping for temporary fixes, not realizing that these are merely bandaids on deeper existential wounds.
The global narrative of peace is predominantly framed around the absence of conflict or discomfort—an emotional state achieved by orchestrating circumstances to our liking. We stack up safety nets and backup plans, thinking the further we are from harm, the closer we are to peace. Yet, this sort of peace is as fleeting as the circumstances it relies on.
But what if I told you that there exists a peace so profound, so resilient, that it thrives in the face of adversity? This isn't a peace you can purchase or plan for; it's a peace that transcends understanding and outlasts the temporary solutions peddled by the world.
A Different Kind of Peace
In Philippians 4:6-7, Paul introduces us to a peace that doesn't hinge on human efforts or environmental factors. He writes, "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."
Here, the peace offered is not an escape from reality but an embrace of it, fortified not by the removal of trouble but by the presence of God. It’s a peace that does not keep us from the storm but steadies us within it.
The Misconception of Modern Peace
Modern solutions to anxiety are often wrapped in distraction or denial—mindfulness apps, adult colouring books, and the relentless pursuit of zen gardens. We've built echo chambers on social media, curated to reinforce our beliefs and shield us from dissent. We celebrate the creation of 'safe spaces' where we aren't challenged, forgetting that growth often comes from discomfort.
Yet, despite all these tools at our disposal, society grows more anxious, not less. We're more connected than ever before, yet more isolated in our experiences and fears. We've confused peace with comfort, not realizing that true peace is not about the absence of noise but the presence of harmony.
Peace as Presence, Not Absence
Jesus offers a stark contrast to the world’s peace. "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid" (John 14:27). His peace is not a mere ceasefire in the conflicts of life. It is an assurance of something much deeper—the steadfast presence of God amidst the chaos.
This peace is a divine paradox. It's a calm in the heart of the storm, a steadfastness amidst shifting sands. It doesn’t come from distancing ourselves from troubles but from drawing nearer to the divine. It is found in moments of vulnerability, in the quiet prayer whispered in the midst of turmoil, and in the surrender to a power greater than oneself.
Embracing the True Source of Peace
To embrace the peace that lasts is to shift our focus from the seen to the unseen, from the temporary to the eternal. It's about recognizing that peace isn't something you achieve through human effort but something you receive through divine presence.
So how do we attain this peace? It begins by acknowledging where our help comes from. It’s not summoned by incantations or drawn from deep within us. It comes from the One who commands the winds and waves, the One who is in the boat with us, even as it fills with water.
Invitation to True Peace
If you find yourself weary from the waves, tired of temporary fixes and ready for real peace, I invite you to look beyond the horizon of human solutions. Turn towards the promise of a peace that surpasses understanding, offered to you by the Prince of Peace Himself.
This peace doesn’t require you to escape from life’s storms but empowers you to navigate through them. It’s not about avoiding conflict but about anchoring yourself in the truth of God’s word and the certainty of His love.
In a world that sells peace as a product, discover the peace that is a person—Jesus Christ. Embrace this peace that lasts, and watch as the anxieties of life lose their grip on your heart. "Peace over panic," indeed.
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Matt Edmundson: [00:00:00] Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service. We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps us live a more meaningful life. We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith and a place where you can contribute and grow. I want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church and there are a few ways that you can do just that.
Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our live stream. And if you're up for it, why not invite a few friends over and experience the service together. Church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others. And one of the easiest ways for you to do that [00:01:00] is to also join one of our mid week groups where we meet online together to catch up and discover more about the amazingness of Christ.
You can also subscribe to our podcast called What's the Story, where we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people. More information about all of these things that I've mentioned can be found on our website www. crowd. church or you can reach us on social media at crowd church If you're new to crowd or new to the Christian faith And would like to know what your next steps to take are why not head over to our website crowd.
church forward slash next for more details.
And now, the moment you've been waiting for is here, our online church service [00:02:00] starts right now. Hello,
Dan Orange: sorry, I just put my phone on do not disturb so we don't get any calls. I'm
Anna Kettle: literally like nudging Dan like you're live. Slick start. Slick. Come on guys,
Dan Orange: come on. Very slick. I thought someone's going to text me or ring right in the middle of a crucial moment. Yeah, you don't want that. No.
Anna Kettle: You don't want that, definitely not.
So how are you Dan, apart from being a little bit winging out there?
Dan Orange: Yes so we're on Instagram.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, this is exciting.
Dan Orange: Yeah, which means I have to press buttons a lot and switch between.
Anna Kettle: So if Dan looks like he's concentrating extra hard, that's because he actually is.
Dan Orange: Which camera?
Anna Kettle: I know, which camera, where do we look? So he's doing all the tech and flipping between images for Insta, and I just sit here and talk like normal, so I get the good job. So what have you been up to Dan? [00:03:00] What have you been up to this weekend?
Dan Orange: Not much. Not much that's not true, sorting, which I think we're going to talk to you.
Anna Kettle: It's that time of year, isn't it? Like that April, May, getting ready for summer, coming out winter sort. I've been sorting this weekend as well. We've sorted out the garden, we've started to, we've sorted out the garage, bit of a clear out.
Dan Orange: Yeah, we've been doing paperwork, all fun things. Oh yeah, we're so rock
Anna Kettle: and roll here at Crowd Church.
I did go to a gig on Friday night though offset it with that. Yeah, that was nice. Yeah, but no, yeah, it's
Dan Orange: I saw that on Instagram. Yeah. Yeah, I'd like to have gone.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, it was good. zuTons, if anyone's interested. It was good gig on Friday night. And today has been a nice sunny day.
So we've, what have you been up to today? Have you been out in the sunshine at all?
Dan Orange: Aye. Haven't done I've enjoyed the sunshine from the window
Anna Kettle: It's the best place to enjoy it because it's still a little bit windy at least in Liverpool where we're broadcasting from other people might be different, but it feels like We're [00:04:00] still waiting for spring to really get going here.
It's like sunny but cold. Yeah,
Dan Orange: we've got sun so it's a start. It's not raining every day. Yeah anymore, which is very good.
Anna Kettle: Yeah,
Dan Orange: We just need a bit of heat
Anna Kettle: Yeah, definitely. We did get out this afternoon. We went out to a local park with some friends. We went for lunch and went to the park after church.
And it was nice. It was like mediocrely warm, but yeah, nice to have a little bit of sun, but a bit cold. Anyway, that was our weather report. That was
Dan Orange: our weather report. Onto Crowd Church. This week. We talk about
Anna Kettle: peace. That is
Dan Orange: a good subject. So still on our series, Fruits of the Spirit. And one of those fruits, one of those gifts from God is peace, which is we'll find out more, but it's a challenge, isn't it?
Anna Kettle: Yeah, peace, I feel like it's something that everybody's looking for right now. It doesn't feel like the world is a very peaceful place at the moment. So I'm really keen to, to hear this talk, which we've got coming up from Pete Farrington. [00:05:00]
Dan Orange: Yeah yeah, I'm really looking forward to it. I'm listening to a book at the moment Matthew Perry from Friends, Chandler from Friends.
Oh, I've read,
Anna Kettle: yeah, I've read that. Yeah. His autobiography. It's really interesting.
Dan Orange: And it's a search from the first few chapters it's a search for peace. It really is.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, I recommend it. It's really interesting. I think he makes his piece over time, but goes through quite a lot of addiction and stuff and kind of obviously rich, famous, everything in the world can possibly throw at you and still really struggles through life and struggles to find that peace outside of having that spiritual connection with God, which I think he does touch on winding up points.
Dan Orange: One thing he says right at the beginning is. There's a massive hole in my life, which I tried to fill with material things, and this big, huge material hole. And then he says, perhaps it was a spiritual hole, not a material hole. That's very interesting. Yeah. Yeah. Let's see
Anna Kettle: what Pete's got to say. And then we'll come back [00:06:00] to that discussion.
Dan Orange: Yeah. Any questions to please just yeah, anywhere, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, just post them. And we'd love to answer them afterwards, but here's Pete.
Pete Farrington: What is unshakable peace and how can I attain it? That's what we're going to be exploring a bit today. But I want to say at the top that something we have to be aware of is that the world does not always use words in the same way that the Bible does. We at times might use the same vocabulary, but we've got different dictionaries with different definitions.
So when the world talks about peace, at least in terms of internal peace, it's often really referring to an emotional state that's brought about by preferable circumstances. So a life that's free of adversity, lack and suffering. A life with enough safety nets, buffers, insurance, security cameras and backup [00:07:00] plans.
And so peace increases the further away you are from harm and trouble. But where the world's version of peace is something that comes from having desirable circumstances, the peace God gives comes in spite of our circumstances. We see this laid out for us clearly in Philippians 4 where Paul says, The Lord is at hand.
Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your heart, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So peace may not be what we would naturally consider the appropriate or expected response to what we see.
We'll come back to that passage later. But how often have you searched for peace in places that only [00:08:00] provided temporary relief? Because there is a lot of temporary relief that you can find in the world. You can do a lot to put distance, often, at least temporarily, between yourself and the cause of your fear and anxiety.
Like even the algorithms on social media are designed in a way to just keep giving you more of what you want. More of what's comfortable for you to see and to remove any challenges to the beliefs that you hold. And, so people get further entrenched in the dogmas that they hold to. And we hear a lot these days about creating safe spaces, which at times can really become spaces where you're just not exposed to anything that opposes what you believe or could be potentially offensive.
And people talk a lot about setting boundaries and of course there are common sense things that we should do to protect ourselves and others. And there are things we can do to reduce chaos and panic in life. But what I'm trying to get at is that we have access to [00:09:00] every tool and technique that man's ever come up with.
And yet we don't actually seem to be becoming a more peaceful people. We haven't really come up with a permanent lasting solution. I think it's interesting how many things that you can buy to, to help you relax, like zen gardens and colouring books for adults and books about mindfulness. But with all of the formulas and techniques that we've got, we only seem to be becoming more anxious.
And of course, one method that I think we all turn to at times is distraction and avoidance. We can use entertainment, hobbies, and social media as a means to escape from troubles and find peace. And we can really go a long time without unplugging, switching off and just being alone with our own thoughts.
I read something quite insightful about this recently by a guy called Tony Reinke, I think his name is. The smartphone is causing a social reversal. The [00:10:00] desire to be alone in public and never alone in seclusion. He was piggybacking on something that the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer had said in the 1920s.
He said, we flee silence, we race from activity to avoid having to be alone with ourselves for even a moment, to avoid having to look at ourselves in the mirror. My goodness, I wonder what he'd say today. He also said this, Not only are we afraid of ourselves, of discovering and unmasking ourselves, but even more we are afraid of God, that he might disturb our aloneness and discover and unmask us, that God might draw us into partnership and do with us whatever he wants.
Because we fear such unnerving, lonely encounters with God, we avoid them. Avoid even the thought of God, lest he suddenly get too close to us. Suddenly having to look into God's eyes, having to be accountable before him, is [00:11:00] too dreadful a notion. Our perpetual smile might fade. Things might get completely serious in a way to which we are not at all accustomed.
He said this anxiety characterizes our entire age. We live in perpetual fear of suddenly being seized and called to task by the infinite. and would rather socialise or go to the movies or theatre until we are finally carried to our grave. Anything, rather than having to bear a single minute before God.
He penned those words almost 100 years ago. But even back then, Bonhoeffer saw through the veneer and the mask that we try and hide behind to avoid facing the things that really trouble us and expose just how fragile our peace is. Now, when Jesus was at the Last Supper with his disciples, shortly before his crucifixion, he said this, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives, do I [00:12:00] give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. So what does his peace look like and how is it different to ours? Because he carefully described peace, the peace he was giving as my peace. And Jesus there was going far beyond what was what was customary to say when departing.
He said, my peace I give to you. I read this in a commentary in the Bible, the word for peace, Shalom. It never means simply the absence of trouble. It means everything which makes for our highest good. The peace which the world offers is the peace of escape. The peace which comes from the avoidance of trouble and from refusing to face things.
The piece that I'm talking about today is not something you can achieve with a new practice. It's what comes only from knowing a person. And this kind of peace is not the result of carefully curating your life. It's a fruit of the Spirit. So let's go back to that passage in Philippians. [00:13:00] Philippians 4, verses 3 to 6.
The Lord is at hand. Do not be anxious about anything. But in everything, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So we're commanded, don't be anxious.
Okay, yeah, thanks Paul. I'll just stop. I'll just stop being anxious. I don't know why I hadn't thought of that. But this command is qualified by the preceding phrase, the Lord is at hand. So how can I attain this peace? The Well, peace doesn't come from a new practice. It comes from knowing a person.
And I'm really not a fan of alliteration. I think it's the cheesiest thing ever. Oh, it makes me nauseous. But it came to me, so I'm doing it today. I have three P's, okay? Peace is a person, it's a promise, [00:14:00] and a position. So for the rest of this talk, I'm going to unpack that a little bit. So peace is a person.
I want to take us, I want to take us to a prophecy in the Old Testament in the book of Isaiah. This is a prophecy about Jesus. Isaiah 9 verse 6 says, For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Peace is a person. But let's go back a couple of chapters. In Isaiah 7, there is another prophecy there are many in Isaiah, but there's another prophecy in Isaiah 7 about Jesus. This chapter tells us about it also tells us about a guy called Ahaz, who was the king of Judah at the time, a bad king, like most of them were.
There were two nations waging war against Ahaz. And in verse one, it says, In the days of Ahaz, the son of [00:15:00] Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, the son of Remalia, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to wage war against it. In verse two, we're told that the heart of Ahaz and the heart of his people shook as the trees of the forest shake before the wind.
Have you ever felt like your peace is fragile, easily shattered by the slightest troubles? In verse four, God then speaks to the prophet Isaiah and tells him to go to King Ahaz and say, be careful, be quiet, do not fear. And do not let your heart be faint because of these two smouldering stumps of firebrands, those two kings, at the fierce anger of Resin and Syria and the son of Remalia.
Then verses 10 through 12, it says again, the Lord spoke to Ahaz, Ask a sign of the Lord your God, let it be as [00:16:00] deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask and I will not put the Lord to the test. So God speaks to Ahaz through the Prophet Isaiah, challenging him to ask the Lord for a sign of his help.
And under the guise of humility, it was really false humility, Ahaz declined saying no. I couldn't put the Lord to the test. I won't do that. But he's really just saying this because he'd already determined in his heart to seek help from the king of Assyria instead. And then verses 13 through 14.
It says, Here then, O House of David, is it too little for you to weary men that you weary my God also? This is the Prophet Isaiah speaking. Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son and shall call his name Immanuel. That means God with us. [00:17:00] And it's like God was challenging Ahaz.
Go on Ahaz, what's the biggest sign that you could request of me? What would convince you once and for all? What would quell your fears for good? Ahaz then declines and God gives him the sign, Emmanuel. The sign he gave is Emmanuel, God with us. The sign is God himself with us and you could make a request as deep as Sheol or high as the heavens and God has still trumped it and out given your request when he gave us himself.
And how the preposition with should come between the words God and us is the mystery and the wonder of the ages. God with us. Or like we read in Philippians, the Lord is at hand. Now, if we fast forward a few centuries, we come to a story of this Emmanuel, of Jesus, and how [00:18:00] he can, and how he can still a storm.
So we read in Mark 4, verses 35 through 41, On that day, when evening had come, he, Jesus said to them, Let us go across to the other side, to the other side of the lake. And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose. And the waves were breaking in the boat, so that the boat was already filling.
But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he awoke, and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said to them, Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?
And they were filled with great fear, and said to one another, Who [00:19:00] then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? I think this is amazing. The carpenter, Jesus was a carpenter. So the carpenter was asleep in the boat while the fishermen were panicking. Like how is that possible? The guys with all the experience of being at sea, the ones with all the expertise, they're just flapping.
If I'm on a plane and the pilot starts running down the aisle screaming help, I am not going to choose that moment to take a nap. I would be losing it. I'd be in bits. And these guys don't say, it's not like they say, Teacher, could you please come up and help us? Their heads are just gone at this point.
They're like, don't you care? Don't you care we're perishing? But they hadn't truly realised who he was. Psalm 89, verses 8 to 9, says this, O Lord, God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you, You [00:20:00] rule the raging of the sea, when its waves rise, you still them. And real, unshakable, lasting peace comes from knowing the one who rules the raging of the sea.
Isaiah 26 verse 3 says, you keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. This verse is for you. Reminds me quite a lot of Peter in the Bible. There's a story in the New Testament. I'm going to read oh, I haven't got the reference here.
We'll put it in after, but it says this immediately, he made the disciples, this is Jesus. He made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went upon the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone but the boat by this time was a long way from the land beaten by the waves for the wind was against them and in the [00:21:00] fourth watch of the night he came to them walking on the sea but when the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified and said it is a ghost and they cried out in fear but immediately Jesus spoke to them saying take heart it is I do not be afraid And Peter answered him, Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.
He said, come. So Peter got out of the boat and walked on the water and came to Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord, save me. Jesus immediately reached out his hand and took hold of him, saying to him, O you of little faith. Why do you doubt? And when they got into the boat, the wind seized, and those in the boat worshipped him, saying, Truly, you are the Son of God.[00:22:00]
The interesting thing is that nothing at all had changed in Peter's experience from when he was walking on the water to when he started to sink. His surroundings and his circumstances were exactly the same. In those two moments, when he was walking on water and when he was drowning, the waters were beneath him.
He still wasn't on dry ground. The only thing that was different was where he was choosing to look. So let's go back to that verse, 3, you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you. Peace is a person. Amen. Amen. And Peter later went on to say in 1 Peter 5, verses 6 to 7, Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.[00:23:00]
And this is how personal it is. God cares for you. And I love how personal Jesus was when he when he appeared to the disciples after his resurrection, in Luke 24, verse 36, it says as the disciples were talking about these things, as they were gathered together, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, peace to you.
Now, you might be tempted to just think, oh, this was a customary greeting and it was, but these would have, the disciples would have been astonished at this. Remember, the last time that they'd hung out with Jesus was was when Jesus had said, My peace I give to you. And he's now returning to them with those same words, peace to you.
But according to all human logic and behaviour, these words should not be coming out of Jesus lips. Because they'd all deserted him at his [00:24:00] crucifixion when times got hard, they all left him. So like Jesus, Jesus comes back to them and says, peace to you. When they were eating dinner the other night and Jesus said, peace, I leave with you, my peace, I give to you.
Not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. Like guys, do you remember that night? Yeah, that's right. The night when you all betrayed me. Yeah, that's the one. I promised you peace then. And here I am now coming in peace and I'm making good on that promise.
So peace is a promise that God makes to us through Jesus. Peace is a person. Peace is a promise. And finally, peace is a position that we have before God through Jesus. Romans 5 verse 1 says, Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of what Jesus did on [00:25:00] the cross in purchasing our freedom and our forgiveness and taking away, removing the guilt and the shame that we have because of our sin, we have peace with God.
And if you remember Bonhoeffer's words from earlier, He spoke about being afraid of God, not being able to bear even a single minute before God. Christ came to reconcile us to God, to bring us back to the Father and to give us peace with God. God with us. God is at hand. That's why we're commanded, do not be afraid.
Thank you for listening.
Anna Kettle: Wow. So what did you think of that, Dan? Lots in there.
Dan Orange: Yeah. Lots in there, isn't there? Yeah. And again, with the tech, quite an abrupt end.
Anna Kettle: Dan's still getting used to this new setup, guys.
Dan Orange: I was still writing notes. [00:26:00]
Anna Kettle: Dan's still getting used to all the extra buttons he has to think about. So apologies not so slick as normal, but anyway no I thought there was loads of really good stuff and that I really enjoyed that talk.
I know the thing that really struck me was just the idea that firstly began on around peace that surpasses understanding. And I think that's it. It's peace that's. It's easy, not easy, but it's, it makes sense to have peace when life's straightforward, when life's easy, when things are going well, you can have a natural peace, can't you?
You have more peace of mind about your finances. If you've got a good job and a regular salary, you have more peace of mind about your health. If you've just had a health check and everything's clear. You might have more peace about, I don't know, the security of your home. If you fit a fancy alarm on it.
So certain things that can give us a natural amount of peace, but to me, that's finite and it's still limited and it's [00:27:00] circumstantial. And the thing that really struck me is there's also this whole level of peace that Jesus offers us that is nothing to do with. Our circumstances at all. It's a piece that surpasses understanding.
And I think that's the really cool point that was made that, yeah, there's this piece that you can experience that's beyond our circumstance and beyond what life happens. And isn't that something we all want and need in this age where life is uncertain so often?
Dan Orange: Yeah, I agree totally. And it's the verse that when I'm praying for myself for peace, I always pray.
When I'm praying for other people. I always pray that I think it wasn't even that long ago that God just said to me, because that piece that passes all understanding, when I was younger, we used to sing a song and it all, and I didn't really I didn't understand it. It was just a, it was a long word and it was like okay.
But then it suddenly sunk in when later in life that we don't have to understand the [00:28:00] situation. God understands it. And that means that. Pete said later on, the peace is independent of your circumstance. It's independent of your thinking. It's independent of your, what others have told you. It's independent of how you can get your head around it.
You might not get your head around it. Yeah. But God's peace is still available in that situation
Anna Kettle: because it's a piece that comes from like this is the point that Pete made us. It's a piece that comes from like knowing who God is in spite of your circumstance and knowing who you are in God and the promises that God is
given to us as his children that go way beyond anything that's happening to you in the natural. Have you got any examples like of practice? Sorry, I'm putting you on the spot now. But have you got any examples of when you've known a piece that doesn't match your circumstance that is like surpasses it?
Dan Orange: Yeah, I [00:29:00] think something that's just off the top of my head, but it potentially is, I've said this lots of times before, but I run my own business. So my income is very erratic. Yeah. It's effectively sales. So some things are good. Sometimes they're good. Sometimes they're bad. And it doesn't mean I don't have to put work in, doesn't mean I don't have to plan things.
But even when things, times are tough, times are hard. I pray that prayer and God has actively given me that peace. He said, yeah, it's okay, Dan, you can just rest in the fact that I've got this. Yeah. And sometimes that'll be well, so many times it will be literally in the morning. I'll get a text. Yeah, that Dan, we like that quote.
We'll go ahead.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Dan Orange: But sometimes it might not be that. That quick, but so many times it no, sometimes it isn't that quick, but it's just a knowledge. Yep. I've got you.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. [00:30:00] Yeah. That is such a good practical example. I really like that. And I relate to it cause my husband's self employed as well.
Yeah. And your finances, do you go up and down a bit on that and yeah, it is that trust, isn't it? That God's got it. Yeah. Yeah, whether you can see it at that moment or not, I have a example from last year. I remember about this time last year, myself and my husband, Andy, sadly lost a pregnancy.
And it was our fourth baby in a row that we'd lost. I remember a friend said to me, I spoke to her, she'd also had a couple of baby losses in the past and a friend said to me, like, how are you doing? And I was like, yeah, it's hard, it's sad, but we're okay. And we chatted through stuff and she just said, she didn't say it to me there and then, but a few months later she said to me, I just felt like you had such a piece about you even in the middle of what's such an awful situation and so sad and hopeless in [00:31:00] the natural.
She was like. I just felt like God's peace was all over you. You just seemed at peace, even in the middle of it's exactly what they were saying in the midst of a storm that when you know, even though the circumstance isn't great, but Jesus has you and he still has hold of you and he still has a plan for your life.
And that, that's definitely a very tangible one and I really felt at the time I was like, This situation isn't the one we wanted, but I'm at peace with the fact that God's bigger than this. Yeah. And he still has me and he has my family.
Dan Orange: I agree. Yeah. And it goes on to Pete's point that peace is a position, isn't it again?
Yeah. So I said this before, it's not circumstances. God's, Jesus said, my peace, I give to you. And we've been reconciled with God. If we know Jesus, if we've asked him to come into our lives, asked him to [00:32:00] change us, we're in that position that he has taken away that fear of being outside of God.
So we can stand in that position of peace. And it's a great place to be. It doesn't mean things are easy. There was still the the fishermen were still in a storm. They were still about to die. Yeah. But God, Jesus came with a peace
Anna Kettle: and I think that for me is the thing. It's not again. The point was made.
It's not the avoidance or absence of problems like life is going to throw troubles hours, Christians aren't immune from that. No one is because this world is broken and imperfect. And I think even Jesus said that in the Bible. He said, you will have problems, but I'll be with you.
Through them. Yeah. Like that was the point that he left his disciples with yeah. You won't not have problems. You will. Yeah. But it's that you can see that in the storm situation, can't [00:33:00] you? I love the point though. It was hilarious that. All these professional fishermen were like stressing and probably because they realized how dangerous the scenario was.
They were in the storm. They didn't know what to do. And Jesus was like sleeping. And I think to me, that just really speaks of Jesus knew who his father was. He knew God. And he had such a peace in God being in control that he wasn't rattled the way we so often are when the storms of life come. And yeah, it's just, it blazed my mind that story every time because I know I would be one of those fishermen running around like a headless chicken.
Dan Orange: He was in a double great position because he was the creator of the earth. So we had control over that. And he was a joiner. So he knew what the boat could take. Why wasn't he asleep? Peter said as well, that so not Peter in the Bible, Pete Farrington in the talk he talked about when Jesus said to [00:34:00] Peter, come onto the lake and walk, Jesus was walking in the water, he came, Peter started to sink, his circumstances were no different.
I love that. We can have peace when our circumstances have not changed at all. Yeah. It is challenging to me, but when he took his eyes off God, that's when he sank.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, so more about knowing God's presence in your situation than having the solution, isn't it? It's about, and that's the thing that really struck me in this talk.
It's about the presence of God, not the absence of trouble. And for me, that's probably my biggest takeaway from this. It's just, Yeah, that's really profound. It's just knowing God's presence with you changes everything more than your circumstances changing. Actually,
Dan Orange: That's the biggest thing of Pete's talk that really spoke to me.
That yeah, nothing changed around him, but his [00:35:00] focus changed.
Yeah.
Dan Orange: And it back at the beginning of Pete's talk, he talked, he quoted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer about not, sometimes our absence of peace is because we're running from God, because we're trying to do the next activity. If we stay still, we might have to listen to him.
And that could be scary, or it can be scary because we know two things. We know one, he's going to tell us the truth. And two, we need to listen to him.
Yeah.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Dan Orange: From activity to activity. Yeah. Spending that time with God is key. I believe that's what it is for me. I know it for me.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. Yeah, I totally agree.
I was just looking at the comments box and there's one here from Matt Crew. He's just said we have some amazing brave. What's the story podcast from ladies who suffered loss? Yeah, that's true. And we also to be honest, we have some amazing [00:36:00] stories. Like I sometimes post that podcast and if you haven't checked out yet, please do because actually there's all kinds of amazing stories from amazing.
Ordinary people like you and I and just, but who've overcome some incredible difficulties in all different types of ways of life. And I think, yeah, in so many of those stories, you can see how having God's presence with you through some really challenging times in life, whether that's illness or loss, or challenges in work, all kinds of things that life can throw at you, but just.
Having God with you in it as people telling their sort of journey, own journeys and stories of faith in the middle of hard things is just, honestly I love hosting them 'cause they're just so powerful and every time I have one of those conversations, I come away thinking just feeling so inspired.
Because it's that thing again, God's presence in the middle of difficulty makes all the [00:37:00] difference. And yeah, I definitely recommend people check out the podcast if they haven't, because it's just if you're interested in learning more about how you have peace in the middle of like stormy seasons of life.
That podcast is just full of examples. Yeah, just brilliant.
Dan Orange: Yeah, absolutely. It's worth really worth listening in. Again, sometimes I do feel like I repeat myself, but it's just because these things have spoken to me. I find it. I find life easier when I've heard from other people going through the same situation.
I'm sure that must be the same in everything, even in my working life, if I don't know how to do something, I'll go on YouTube, I'll ask someone, it's the same thing, isn't it? Oh, they got stuck on that. Ah, that's how they did it. Let's find out from other people.
Yeah,
Dan Orange: in the same situation, those that know Jesus have chat to them.
And if you don't know, if you don't have friends around you that know this God, then The What's The Story Podcast is a great way to hear those stories. Yeah. [00:38:00] And please send in your prayer requests. We've just enjoyed, I love it. This week people send it in on WhatsApp requests that we can pray and we can just, we, it's a very Christian term, lift you up to God.
Just say to God, this person here is struggling with this. This person here would like to know the answer here. Speak to them.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. And we've seen some amazing answers to prayer as well through, through that. And yeah, and it is exciting. So yeah, absolutely agree. Just pray yourself, but also share those prayer requests with our team and we'll happily pray for you through the week.
We've got a whole team here, Crowd Church or do that and commit to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good offer. I also loved what Pete was just saying about the three P's, I thought they were really easy to remember. So it was like kind of peace comes from like knowing the person, like who Jesus is and then the promise.
So the promises they has given to us that [00:39:00] we would know things like you'll know peace that surpasses understanding. And then the position you have, like. Yeah, knowing who we are because we're loved by God. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. It's such a simple way of remembering it. So yeah, I'll definitely log that one away for the week.
Dan Orange: And it makes it possible. So the final thing I want to say is the end. There's a commandment. There's do not be afraid.
Yeah,
Dan Orange: and if God hadn't given us that assurance of peace, Then that would be a horrible commandment because you'd be asking us to do something that's impossible
Anna Kettle: or just be self effort or striving to feel peaceful.
Yeah. Which is anyone who struggles with anxiety will know. It's just that's, someone says, Oh, stop, just stop stressing about it. That never makes anyone feel less stressed. I would say that to my husband. He says, just stop stressing on it. And I'm like, every time you say that to me, it makes me more stressed because I was stressing at you and I'm stressing at the problem.
It's just, no one's ever felt less anxious by being told to stop [00:40:00] feeling anxious, right? Yeah.
Dan Orange: So for God's commandment to say, don't be afraid, we can either look at it like that and go, Oh, how's that help? Or we can say if he's commanded us, he must have provided.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Dan Orange: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: On the live stream just before Andy said like worship or listening to worship and praise music really helps him.
And I think that's really, that's a really good point because I think it comes back to the presence of God. I feel like whenever I put on Christian music, it brings me right into that. Sense of the presence of God when I'm maybe don't feel that close to God or my mind isn't focused on God.
It helps me. It's just a really practical way because it helps me focus on God and feel close to him and to like focus my gaze on him really and who he is and takes my, and I just think that shift of thinking about who God is. Takes and taking my eyes off my own problem. That really helps. That really helps that shift. Yeah, absolutely. From anxiousness to [00:41:00] knowing the peace of God. Yeah. Often. So that is a really top tip. I totally agree with that. Yeah. And Matt's just said, yeah, he does as well.
Dan Orange: Yeah. It's, yeah. Like you say, it takes out, focus off the situation, just says, yeah, let's put our focus on God.
Let's not sink. Yeah. Let's walk on.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, we're all about that. That sounds cool.
Dan Orange: So what's next week?
Anna Kettle: So next week, guess what? You've got another double whammy. We're back for more of this. Yeah, next week is me and Dan hosting again. So sorry about that. If anybody's hating or poor tech today, we promise we'll be a bit better next week.
A little bit more,
Dan Orange: more practice. Yeah, better on the keys.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. No, I think we've done. I think you've done a good job tonight, Dan. Better than I would have done if you weren't here, let's put it that way. No, so we're back next week hosting, but we've got Dave Connolly speaking next week and he's going to be talking all about patience.
Yeah, that's going to be awesome. I love Dave Conn. He's just got so much wisdom. So yeah, that will be a [00:42:00] good one to tune into as well.
Dan Orange: Indeed. So thanks very much for all your comments. Thanks for tuning in. And if you've got any prayer requests, like we said, please send them in, just visit crowd. church, all the details are there.
Thank you.
Anna Kettle: Fab. Yeah, we'll see you soon then. We'll see you next weekend, guys, because we'll be back here again. Hopefully, see you then. Bye. Have a good one.
Matt Edmundson: 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 get notified every time we upload a video.
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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.