Book Of Acts Review - How the Church Started
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
The book of Acts is the second part of a two-part story, written by Luke. It records the life and work of Jesus continued through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit.
The disciples are commissioned to preach the gospel and make disciples, first in Jerusalem, then Judea, Samaria, and finally to the ends of Earth. And that they will receive power from the Holy Spirit to replicate and imitate Jesus.
Luke records the history of the early church, from Jesus' death to just before the destruction of the temple in 70 AD. His purpose for writing Acts was to create a legal defense for Paul, who was awaiting trial in Rome.
In Acts, Christianity is shown to be rooted in Judaism, demonstrating that it should be considered a legal religion.
The book of Acts models normal Christian life and highlights our need for the Holy Spirit.
Church life is shown throughout Acts as meeting in homes and being witnesses and disciple-makers.
The kingdom of God is built by caring for the poor and breaking down racial barriers.
💬 CONVERSATION STREET --
Matt + Sharon talk about
The fact that the Book of Acts was written was to mount a legal defense for Paul who was in jail in Rome awaiting trial at the time.
The importance of community in the church and how the community has supported them in difficult times.
How the Holy Spirit works through people and what it means to do things by God’s power.
The early church wasn’t building a church but making disciples.
Discipleship and what it means to make disciples.
The Holy Spirit - the third person of the Trinity of God.
Persecution of the early church and how in the midst of it, God shines through.
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John Harding: So today we are starting a new series on the book of Acts, a book in the Bible, sometimes called the Acts of the Apostles. So we've got the four gospels, Matthew, mark, Luke and John, each one recording their biography of the life of Jesus. And then Acts follows on from that and, and so if the four gospels recorded the life and work of Jesus, then Acts is recording the life and work of Jesus, continued through the church by the power of the Holy Spirit. The gospel tells the story of Jesus' birth. The Way how for three years he made disciples, extended the kingdom of God, pushing back the kingdom of darkness and how then Jesus died for us and was raised to new life for us.
And those gospels end with Jesus ascending into heaven and the disciples beginning a wait. Waiting for the Holy Spirit. The Gospels end with Jesus commissioning his disciples, sending them out to preach the gospel, to make disciples, to be witnesses. First in Jerusalem, then Judea, then Samaria, then finally through to the ends of the Earth.
And in order for that to happen, they're gonna have to receive the power of the promised Holy Spirit who will equipt them and empower them to replicate and imitate the words, the works and wonders of Jesus. And that's what we see in Acts. In fact, acts was written by Luke. Luke, who wrote the Gospel of Luke, intended acts to be a continuation.
He says in Acts one, one, how he recorded the words and works of Jesus. And now in part two, he's recording the continuation of that through the church. Let me overview the book of Acts as one single story, so it begins with Jesus leaving the disciples, with the disciples all huddled together, waiting for the promised gift of the Holy Spirit.
Chapter two, the Holy Spirit fills the disciples the first Pentecost. 50 days after Jesus' death, the church is born. The spirit takes those frightened disciples out of hiding and transforms them into powerful public witnesses. Peter preaches on the streets, 3000 respond, and the earliest church is born. Chapter three, Peter and John heal a crippled beggar in Jesus' name.
They're continuing the works of Jesus, but as with Jesus, this gets them into trouble with the religious authorities who wanna hold onto power and control things. As we move through acts, we see how the earliest church, how he existed together and met together and related to each other. Chapter four, how they prayed together, how they sold their possessions and cared for the poor and needed.
Chapter five, more and More Miracles, bringing more and more persecution. Chapter six, the whole thing is growing. They're sort of making it up as they go along. So chapter six, they create leadership structures to multiply their kingdom work. It's also in chapter six into chapter seven that Stephen is arrested and stands trial and, and here we get the first lengthy speech of Acts, a quarter of Acts is um, speeches.
Stephen, in his trial, he connects his own story, his own experience of Jesus with the whole sweep and history and story, the Bible from Abraham to Moses, but the religious leaders have Stephen killed. He's the first martyr, chapter eight, A pivot point in the book, A great persecution, um, scatters those Christians from Jerusalem and the church is scattered from the center outwards.
Now, Jesus had commanded them to go and take the gospel from Jerusalem into the region of Judea, into Samaria, through to the ends of the earth. They just got stuck in jerusalem in the center. And so this persecution scatters them, but that only serves to advance the church into those new territories and areas.
So now Phillip's preaching the gospel in Samaria, and the church is established in Samaria. Uh, that pivot point moves into chapter nine. Um, what it represents is the gospel and the church that was essentially Jewish. The first Christians weren't Christians. They were Jews who saw themselves as true Jews because they'd accepted the promised Jewish Messiah and King.
That's who Jesus was to them. But now from chapter nine, pivot Point, we start to see the church spreading into non-Jewish areas, amongst non-Jewish converts, amongst the Gentiles. This is how it happens. You've got a man called Saul is a highly educated, highly passionate, and highly religious Jew. His job was to chase after those first Christians, to arrest them, to kill them.
He was pretty effective at it. On one of his missions, he's heading out on horseback to Damascus. Jesus appears to Saul the original Damascus conversion, and Saul gives his life to Jesus and his name is changed to Paul. A little while later. Chapter 10, Peter is led by Jesus to a Roman centurion's house and they eat together.
Totally forbidden, totally frowned upon in Judaism and this centurion called Cornelius becomes a follower of Jesus. Among the first non-Jewish converts into Christianity. The church is now spreading outwards and culturally beyond the ethnic Jews to the wider world. And really from chapter 13 onwards, that's the story that's recorded.
It's Paul traveling around preaching the gospel, planting churches in Cypress, chapter 14, Iconium, Lystra, Darby. It's imagined sort of going from Israel through to Turkey, through to to Syria. Along the way he has incredible success. There are miracles, there are healings. The church is expanding and growing rapidly, but there's also conflicts, both internal, those first disciples, apostles and Paul are trying to work out how.
The Jewish followers of Jesus and the non-Jewish followers of Jesus should integrate, and if those non-Jewish followers of Jesus need to follow Jewish kosher food laws or be circumcised, that's the internal conflict in chapter 15. Then there's the external conflict. External conflict because chapter 16, Paul is beaten and ends up in prison.
Now on this occasion, he is miraculously released by Angels, his missionary journeys continue Chapter 17. He's now in Greece, Thessaloniki, chapter 18 in Corinth, chapter 19 in Ephesus, in Turkey. Now this is important. He is starting new churches in those new places and later he will write to those churches.
That's what the epistles are. So when you read Ephesians or Corinthians, it's always worth going back into acts and looking at the history of that church, how it began. We are nearly there. Chapter 21, Paul ends up back at the center in Jerusalem. He's arrested he stands trial. There's a plot to kill him.
Remember, he's this incredibly educated, um, Jewish guy giving the leaders a run for their money. Luke records these extended speeches he makes, and ultimately, after two years in prison, Paul plays his Trump. And reveals he has dual citizenship. He is a Roman citizen. That means he's legally allowed to stand trial in Rome before Caesar.
Chapter 27, Paul heads to Rome under Roman guard. They get shipwrecked in Malta. Along the way, Paul preaches a gospel there before finally ending up under house arrest in Rome awaiting trial. That's chapter 28, and that's sort of the end of the story. Now Luke records this history of the earliest church covering a period of around 30 years from the death of Jesus to just before the temple destruction in 70 ad, maybe 64 ad.
And we think that his motivation is purpose in writing both a gospel and then the Book of Acts was to create a legal defense for Paul awaiting trial in Rome. That's why there are so many speeches in the book. Basically, the Romans defined which religions were legal and which were illegal. Judaism was considered legal.
The Jews wanted to show that Christianity was new and distinct from them, therefore illegal cuz they want other Romans to squash it. And acts demonstrates how Christianity is rooted in Judaism and therefore should be considered a legal religion, not a persecuted religion by Rome. So Acts is a sort of legal history books with lots of real verifiable details like Gallio proconsul of achaia in 52 AD. Felix in Acts 18, 58 AD, the strong historical weight to the book.
And so he ends up with Paul under house arrest, awaiting trial, and using that to write his letters to the church as we call those letters. Prison epistles, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, are written by Paul from the prison. But the point I want to make today is that Acts is far more than a history book.
The purpose of Acts is to model two us what normal Christian life should look like. In the same way the apostles in Acts were invited to imitate and replicate the words and the works and the wonders of Jesus through the power of the spirit. We too are invited into that story. To continue the advancement of the kingdom of God through to the ends of the earth.
It's our story. So as we read acts, there are a number of different themes or threads that I want you to look out for and to learn from. The first is this, it's our need for the Holy Spirit. The first disciples were baptized with the Holy Spirit in Acts two, the Holy Spirit, who is God empowered them for this mission, for witness and gifted them in all sorts of supernatural ways and throughout acts as new churches were established.
New believers also experienced that same baptism in the spirit. They were invited into that experience, into that story, and that is very much the history of the church over the past 2000 years. The church continues to grow, it continues to expand throughout the world as people continue to experience the power of the spirit at work in their lives.
The second theme of thread is that we learn about how to be church. What does it look like to be the church? What does the church look like? What does the church do in acts? Let me highlight a few things. Firstly, they were a church without buildings. So through acts, they met in smaller groups in the home to worship together, to break bread together, to eat meals together, to pray together, to listen to apostle's teaching together.
The church in the home that sometimes met in larger public gatherings in the temple courts or in a lecture hall. But there's something incredibly innovative about the church in acts as it grows and responds and adapts and expands. Interestingly, they were not trying to build church. Jesus had told them that that was his job.
Jesus had said, I will build my church. So what we see in Acts is that they were being witnesses. They were sharing the gospel, they were inviting people into relationship with Jesus. So witness and discipleship, they were making disciples. That was their job. They were forming those converts into disciples.
People who increasingly lived like Jesus. I think that's so important as a friend of mine always says, as we make disciples, Jesus builds his church. And finally, They were building something bigger than church. They were building the kingdom of God. They were ushering in the Kingdom of Heaven, the kingdom of light to Earth.
And I think for me, we see that in two ways in Acts. and I want this to shape how we read acts and how we live acts out. You see, throughout Acts number one, they were radically caring for the poor. They were meeting the needs of the poor. And number two, they were breaking down racial ethnic barriers to form one new integrated family and body.
And it seems to me that if ever there was a time for the church to really be the church and to build the kingdom and to step up and to care for those in need to step up and prioritize being this relationally, radically integrated, ethnically diverse body. You see the book of Acts ends in chapter eight with Paul in Rome, but each and every generation is invited into that story to write its own chapter.
To play our part in seeing the gospel of Jesus, advancing from Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria to the ends of the earth. As we make disciples, as we experience the power of the spirit, as we advance the kingdom by meeting the needs of those who are poor, and as we work to build a racially, ethnically integrated family, of which Christ is the head.
Amen.
Matt Edmundson: 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?
John Sloan: I was raised with this culture of, um, falling out with people and, and I didn't, I didn't receive it. Um, but she, yeah, she was so difficult and she fell out with me many times. She'd go down the road, um, she, she, she would put a coat on and, and pack a case and say, I'm leaving. I'm gonna put a head in, in a gas oven. Oh. All these things. So I, you know, when I became a Christian to deal with some of that stuff, you know, um, which was hard. Mm. So I'd say that's probably the biggest challenge I faced, uh, rejection from someone that loves you.
Matt Edmundson: So, there you go. I'm not on the screen. Hang on. Let's do that. Oh, hang on. What happened there? And he's back, although the names are messed up now, so let's do that and then let's do, there we go.
Ooh, for a minute then. I just thought it was you, babe. Just, yeah, you were gonna go for it.
Sharon Edmundson: Well, that was a bit of a tease that, what's the story? It's like, I totally wanna know who he was talking about now, which I guess was the idea.
Matt Edmundson: Ah, you see, actually, I can tell you who he was talking. He was talking about his mum.
Sharon Edmundson: Ah, that was my top guess.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, he was talking about his mom. It's quite a, in some respect, it's quite a heartbreaking story. Um, but John's story, uh, if, I mean, both you and I know John Sloan, his, his, um, his story is definitely full of what we would call redemption, uh, and some incredible stuff. And he, in that episode actually, he talks about how, um, he almost dropped outta medical school.
Um, he's now a retired GP. Uh, and he was a surgeon. He was quite a top surgeon in his time, wasn't he? And his wife's a doctor. Anyway, he talks about all of that stuff. So if you've not seen what's the story, if you've not subscribed to the podcast, then do check it out. It's a wonderful, wonderful story. Uh, and you'll love listening to it.
So, um, you can actually get that, uh, by subscribing to it wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Whatever your favorite podcast app is. Uh, and if you wanna know more, check out the website, www.crowd.church, all the links from there to the Whats the Story podcast episodes, as well as all the livestream stuff.
So, yes, that was a good plug, babe. Yeah.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. Cool. Going back to John's overview of the book of acts, uh, were there any things in particular that stood out to you or you were just like, oh yeah, I wanna talk about that?
Matt Edmundson: Oh, there's lots. Oh, there's lots. And I, I really, um, it's always true whenever John uh, talks, isn't it? Even if it's an overview, there's still all those nuggets that you can sort of pick out.
Yeah. And um, I thought it was interesting how, uh, John said that one of the theories which I'd not heard before about why the Book of Acts was written was to mount a legal defense for Paul who was in jail in Rome awaiting trial and I thought that was quite interesting, uh, that, that I, that I had not heard before.
Mm-hmm.. Um, so that, yeah, I thought that was quite. What about you? .
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah, I've not heard that before either. Um, I think one of the things that stood out to me, he said, obviously the acts is not just a history book, although it is that. Mm-hmm. But I do love the fact that it is actually rooted in real history, in real geography, in real people.
And that we're not just talking fairy stories that are good for your spirit, but actually the Bible. , um, is talking to every aspect of life and is rooted in reality, not in just fairy stories. And he mentioned a couple of people, um, uh, Gallio, um, and Felix. And so I looked up those to just see, wondered what the archeology was for those.
Um, and it, with Gallio, we've actually got writing about him from his brother Seneca who just described him a little bit. And there's also the Delphi inscriptions, which were a group of fragments, which were found to be the copy of a letter from the Emperor Claudius to the city. And they mentioned Gallio in that. Wow.
And then with Felix, who was a Roman governor, um, I've got the Roman historian Tacitus, who wrote about him. So, yeah, I just, I really love all that. I hated history at school, but now I love it.
Matt Edmundson: now you've got into it, haven't you?
Sharon Edmundson: At school, you're kinda, you have to learn what you're told to learn, whereas now I can have a question and just look it up and find the answer.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, no, that's very good. And I love that about you. Actually, one of the thing, you like to join all the dots and, um, and actually a lot of what the, you know, we, we can confirm a lot of what the Old Testament talks about, which, like you say, means it's not an fairytale, is actually rooted in quite a lot of evidence.
Uh, when you look, uh, Miriam wrote in the comments, I think John's talk spoke to me about finding comfort in having a purpose and to have a community spirit in my church. Yeah. Which is, which is, um, John did talk about that actually. Yeah. Um, about the, that's Go ahead. Sorry.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. That was one of the things Miriam, that kind of stood out to me is that whole sense.
That God actually gives us a purpose. We are designed for a purpose. Um, and that's something that's bigger than ourselves. And I think so many people today are purposeless or there's this feeling that you have to create your own purpose. Um, and in some ways that can be quite nice, but in other ways actually, it's a very big burden to have, but to know that you've been actually created, For something and that God's gonna help you to do that.
You're not just left floundering on your own. Mm-hmm.. Um, yeah, I, yeah, I like that too.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's really good. It's really good. And the community aspect of it, that's one of the, um, that's one of the things that. Uh, stood out to me, you know, when John was talking about how, when they were doing church in the book of acts, and we're gonna go through this in much more detail as we go through, but how, when church started, they weren't looking to build church, but they just met in homes.
They just broke bread together, which is, they just enjoyed food together. Um, they prayed together, they just did life together, didn't they? And occasionally they would go to the bigger buildings, but it. It wasn't a building with walls, it was just like, it was a relationship with a whole group of people.
It was a community aspect of it. And, um, yeah. And that's what really captured people.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. And John talked, as well, talked about how the book of Luke, who, who was. Who also Luke wrote the book of Luke. And then the follow on is this book, the Book of Acts, how in the book of Luke, it's about what Jesus did when he was here in his like physical body, but then acts is about what Jesus still did, but through his body, which is now made up of all the people who follow him.
Um, again, so it is picking up on what Miriam said about community. It's like we're not just meant to be on our own, doing our own thing.. Yeah. That whole group, uh, working together, each person's got a part to play, which might be look slightly different to someone else's part. Um, again, all these things, I think, um, mental health is such a big issue, isn't it?
But I think this purpose and community are so good for us because that's what we're designed for.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I think it's totally true. And I'm, I, I read the stats, right? I, I, I, I see a lot of data. About the church and about why people go to church, about why people leave church. I, I see the data about, um, what things is appealing to people who don't go to church about church.
What do people like, so there's certain things they don't like, like they would use phrases like hypocrisy and so on and so forth, which, you know, uh, we, we've got into in past live streams, but. One of the things that consistently shows up on the, we really like this about church and this is really powerful, is the sense of church community, right?
Is that ability of people to gather around each other. They're not perfect people. They are gonna screw up. Um, that's just given, right? But fundamentally, the heart of this community of people has always been quite astounding, I think. Uh, and it is one of those things which does draw people in is that, that whole community side of things, right?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah. And you obviously, you've just mentioned that actually that's not perfect and, uh, quite often, um, that people, we can get hurt through that. I know I have been in the past and I, I suspect I have hurt other people as well. Um, so it's definitely not perfect. It definitely doesn't mean there's no problems.
And again, John picked up on that, didn't he? Where he talked about conflict within the church and also the conflict coming from outside. And yeah. Church, although it, it is uh, fabulous also can actually be very challenging at times. to say the least.
Matt Edmundson: yes. Yes, it can. God loved church, right? It's one of those things where, uh, was it if they, if you don't want any problems, get rid of all the people.
And fundamentally church, church is made up of people, so, uh, it's gonna have a lot of problems. And so,
Sharon Edmundson: I think as well, why I'm so keen on the subject of forgiveness, because I've had to use it a lot in my life, both inside church and for stuff not connected with that,
Matt Edmundson: but yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's what keeps the community going, isn't it?
So what examples, I mean, uh,they, you know, there we could wax lyrical all day about how the church has messed up over the years, and everyone's got stories of that. But how, uh, how have, what sort of stories have, have you got of how the church community is rallied around you at times?
Sharon Edmundson: Oh, that's a very good one.
Um, I think from years ago when I first came to Liverpool, and, uh, I was a bit of a mess really. Um, and it was through the support of other people who got alongside me. And I mean, the Holy Spirit was really showing me a lot, uh, just like taking out from me all the false foundations that I'd got in my life and even where I'd misunderstood things from the Bible and that had actually become.
Really bad for me. Um, it was very much through support of people at times when I just felt like giving up. And I just remember one phrase that someone said to me was that many people never see victory because they give up just as they're on the point of victory. Mm-hmm. And just having that support to help press through some, like working through some really difficult stuff as well.
And then I think another thing we did on, well, as a church is when people have babies, is. You know, the community rallies around and cook meals and brings that sort of thing round. But I'm, I mean, there's loads of examples really.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah, there are. I mean, that, that would be a classic one, isn't it? It's always the one that, that people always mention to me, it's like, you, you cook meals for each other when someone's pregnant.
We're like, of course we do. You know, they've just had a baby. Why would they, why would they, uh, not? And so, and it's the thing that I, I remember when I was living with Nick and Jen, and we'd hang out with Dave and Julie before we got married. And the thing that you always noticed was there's always people in their house, right?
Mm-hmm. , and they always had people around for dinner. They, and to be fair, they had people around for dinner, which they didn't, didn't actually like, but they made an effort. And, and I always appreciated that about them. And that's something I think we've tried to mirror, isn't it, in our own home, that actually you have a welcoming home and you, you open your doors and you, you, you let all sorts of people in.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. . Yeah. Great. Just thinking of just looking at my list for other things that really stood out.
Matt Edmundson: Um, well, hang on, hang on. So, uh, Matt's put in the comments here. Uh, we think you're amazing, Mrs. Edmo. Oh, thank you Matt. Uh, and Anya's put, wow. So who will be cooking for me soon? Because she's, uh, Anya's not just having one little baby.
She's having a whole bunch of them. Oh yes. She's got two, two on the way. Uh, two little twins, we'll quite happily go on the meal rota Anya. So if someone from your community is arranging it, let us know. We'll quite happily go on it.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. Cool. So, yeah, uh, just looking at my list, I think, um, another thing that really stood out was that whole Holy Spirit working through people.
Um, and I think I can sometimes have the tendency just to be a bit like, okay, God's uh, put me in this place to do this stuff and then just race on and forget to actually like, you know, keep talking with God along the way. And, uh, I am definitely trying to do more of that, just saying, okay, holy Spirit, what do you want to do here?
Is there anyone you want to speak to through me? You know, um, and just having that awareness and, and doing things in God's power rather than just rushing off in my own little way.
Matt Edmundson: What do you mean doing things in God's power?
Sharon Edmundson: Oh, that is a very good question, isn't it? Um, like, so sometimes I can, um, try to make things work myself.
So, um, it's like I, I know that where I am.. Um, God wants me to help bring something of his ways to people and his love, and sometimes I can just be like, yeah, okay. This is what I'm meant to be doing. I'm just gonna try really hard to do that, rather than just saying, okay, God, let me just, just take a pause.
Um, what is it? What is it you're doing here? What is it you're saying? Um, help me. And letting him open up situations and open up conversations. Yeah. Um, yeah, that kind of thing.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, no, sorry, I was just being cheeky. You made a comment. Sorry. I wonder what you mean by Yeah, yeah, totally, totally. So John talked about how um, the church wasn't trying to build the church.
So the early church wasn't trying to build church, they weren't trying to build buildings, take offerings, and all that sort of stuff, which we've come to associate with our understanding of church in more modern times.
and he talked about how church, the, the early church community took on this principle of making disciples. Doing community and making disciples. Uh, and just coming back to some of the comments on community. So Miriam wrote, um, yeah, I misunderstood things or misunderstand things sometimes, but I'm the same Sharon with people's help.
I'm learning about them in a gentle way, and it's easier for me to accept this, which is great. Yeah. And a touch base with our admin team. If you need support, we're setting up a meal rotor. See, I love that it's already set up. That's Matt's on the case legend. Um, and Nicola's put here in the comments, when I was in Liverpool, community was a lifesaver for me.
Um, in fact, it is still a lifesaver. So, um, uh, yeah, very much so. Uh, very much so. So yeah, he talked about obviously being in community, we've talked about that and he talked about making disciples. Yeah, and so we, we just put in the comments, so we'll explain what that means, because if you, if, if you don't, if you're not familiar with this kind of phraseology, it can, it can sound a bit weird sometimes.
So let's explain that. What did John mean when he talked about making disciples?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. Well, Jesus, when he was here on Earth, in a physical body, he had, he had people we'd call disciples or followers, and they were basically learning. They were learning from the words of Jesus and also from his actions. So it was like a, you know, trained to.
Behave and speak like the person you are learning from. And uh, that's what we're like. We are disciples of Jesus. So we are learning from his words that we read in the Bible. We learn from the Holy Spirit who, uh, has been sent to us to help us with that. And the idea is that then we train other people to do the same.
Um, which is, I, I keep coming back to forgiveness, but that was one that where people really, um, trained me. And again, it's a mixture of the Holy Spirit bringing things to, um, your attention and making it clear what's going on. Also, other, like the teaching from other people to explain things because, um, that was an area that I'd really got wrong in the past of thinking that the Bible said not to be angry.
But it, it talks about when you're angry, don't sin mm-hmm.. Um, and just having that whole thing explained and actually how to forgive was so amazingly freeing. Yeah. Um, and again, just in terms of, well, every area of life in terms of, um, marriage, um, how you see your work, how you do your thoughts, how you handle emotions, uh, there's, there's all of it in the Bible and.
but we need to learn how to actually apply those things and how it look in everyday life.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, totally.
Sharon Edmundson: Did I answer your question?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. I think it's interesting, isn't it? Cuz the church uses phrases like make discipleship in, in the business world, we use phrases like coaching or mentoring. It's the same sort of thing, right?
It's like. . I, I have a, a, you know, I do this part-time. I, I have a, a, a full-time company, which I run, and one of the things that we do in our company is people. God love them. Pay us money to help them get better at something, right? Mm-hmm. . So for us it's around e-commerce. It's around digital stuff. And so they pay us money to coach them to do consultations, whatever language to mentor people, whatever language makes sense for you.
That's all discipleship is. It's like you have done this. So you've learned how to walk into in forgiveness. Uh, can you tell me how you did it? Can I learn from you so I don't have to spend years making all the mistakes that you've made? Can I fast track a little bit and learn a little bit quicker?
Mm-hmm.. And so discipleships are making disciples, making followers of Christ. It's all the same thing. It's just like, it's like parenting. It's like you teach your kids how to do life based around their personality and based on what you've, what you've learned. So, You know, they don't hopefully make the same mistakes that you inevitably have made.
Sharon Edmundson: So I think, um, yeah, I think the, um, business analogy is really quite helpful cause it brings it into more like possibly more relatable stuff and, and, and I think, um, biblical discipleship has all those elements, and I think it does, it takes it further into, um, it's very relational as well. Mm-hmm. , um, and about kind of doing life together.
Yeah. Um, so yeah. Possibly even takes another step further than the mentoring.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, definitely. And because you, I mean, with mentoring it's very, it's, it's, it's great and I enjoy it, but it's, it's very much, this is a topic surround business and business is, is, is a beautiful topic and it's helpful, but it's, it is what it is.
It's not a spiritual, deep, spiritual topic like Christianity, which is much more. Um, uh, soul searching. I think with business it's, um, it's a bit more, it's easier to be surface, whereas with your Christian faith, with your Christian brothers and sisters, if you want to grow, there's something that you're gonna have to get your head around.
That's vulnerability. You're gonna have to learn to trust people and be vulnerable with people, uh, in a way that you don't have to do in business, for example. Um, so I think you're right. I think it does take it a lot deeper, um, because there is that whole spiritual aspect of it. Yeah. Um, and it's that doing life together.
And, and the Bible talks about, um, rejoice with those who are rejoicing, mourn with those who are mourning, you know, and it's like whatever season of life people are in, we have to sort of be alongside them, uh, in that mm-hmm. uh, which let's face it, ev there are a lot of seasons. Some are good, some are not so good, you know?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. And I think that can be quite a challenge in our Western way of living where everybody's quite busy and there's you. There's work and there's family and there's all these other things that you're trying to juggle to do. Mm-hmm.. Um, yeah. So that can be a challenge I think.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it can. And I think it's quite easy to live alone now.
It's quite easy to live, um, isolated, but ironically, loneliness has never been such a big deal as it is now. Um, and more people are struggling with it. Even we live in a hyper-connected world, but people are still struggling with loneliness. Yeah.. And I think that coming back again to the community aspect of it, this is one of the things that I love about church, uh, and discipleship and that whole doing life together and being together, um, is you, you don't, you, you don't, you don't tend to, you can still feel lonely in church.
That's not to say you can't, but I think it's, there's, there's less places to hide. Uh, is probably a good way to put it.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. And I do feel challenged again as we're talking about this cause it's like there, there are many ways that we do try and do community, but also, yeah, I don't think we, maybe not where we could be on that as well.
Matt Edmundson: Oh, there'll be some interesting discussions later in the Edmundson house. I have no doubt. Ladies, gentlemen, hashtag Pray for Matt. Uh, as I have those conversations later, just putting that out there to the worldwide web. Uh, do pray for Matt. So, Um, so we've talked about community, we've talked about the church, we've talked about discipleship.
One of the key figures of the Book of Acts, which John briefly touched on, um, and it's worth connecting with, is the Holy Spirit. So Jesus leaves and the Holy Spirit comes, which is something that you are gonna be talking about in two weeks time. I think two weeks today.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah, a little bit. Did you want me to expand now, or shall I save that one?
Matt Edmundson: Yes. No, no, no. Let's, let's talk a little bit about the Holy Spirit because he is a, he is a key figure of the Book of Acts and it's worth to sort of touching base on this.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. So the Holy Spirit is God. Um, I, I do feel like I'm just gonna end up doing my talk now if we're not careful.
Matt Edmundson: We haven't got that, that amount of time. Just an overview is fine.
Sharon Edmundson: Uh, yeah. So as, as Christians, we believe that there is only one God. We, we don't, we're not polytheists. It's there's one God, but he's made up of three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Um, and it can be a bit of a different, difficult concept to get our heads around because we don't really have a complete equivalent.
in the natural world because obviously God is Spirit. He's much bigger and greater than anything else that we know, and we would expect him to be like that. So it is a bit difficult to get our heads around, but say with people, so like I am one being I'm a human being and I'm one person, but for God, he's one being God and three persons.
And the Bible talks about how they're all in unity, but have different roles. So, . Yeah. I don't wanna say too much because I'd like to save it for next week, uh, in two weeks time. But yeah, that's who he's, and, uh, the Holy Spirit has many different roles and I think I'm gonna talk about one or two of those for in, in two weeks time.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's good. We will be talking a lot about the Holy Spirit over coming weeks because he has featured a lot in the Book of Acts. And as Matt Crew rightly put in the comments to be continued. Uh, and he is also appropriating the hashtag, pray for Matt. Here's what he is put here in the comments. So, uh, thanks.
Uh, yeah, pray for Matt and Matt. Uh, is the, uh, is the thing. So we've got the Holy Spirit. And another key theme of the Book of Acts, and probably we'll end on this point, is, um, persecution. So we've got the whole church growth, we've got community, we've got these miracles going on. We've got people doing life together.
We've got the Holy Spirit work, and we've got all these amazing things happening and we love to read about them. But this sort of theme that sort of threads through all of it is when the good stuff starts to happen, persecution starts to happen, which in my head Babe is a little bit, in some respects, is a little bit illogical because you kind of go, well, surely.
If this is all true and is, and is proving to be true, everyone's just gonna go, oh, that's amazing. Thank you for that. We love that. Let's have that. Cause that's nice. But apparently not everybody thinks like me. And so actually when the good stuff really starts to happen, the persecution starts to happen as well.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. . I can't say I'm a big fan of that , but, but yeah. But we, you do see lots of good things come out of that as well. It's like persecution that actually spread the message, the good news to around the world and to all different nations. So they're definitely good things about that. Um, and I, I think I just hear stories of, um, Christians who are persecuted in modern day in many different countries around the world of how, um, the Holy Spirit is drawing really close to them and like on the inside there's just this strength and this power that comes from the Holy Spirit to be able to deal with those situations.
But yeah, very challenging.
Matt Edmundson: It really is. It's an odd one in the midst of persecution, it seems that God shines. Uh, and, uh, we're gonna start to understand that a little bit more as we go through the Book of Acts. And so, um, yeah, Matt's put here in comment.
Sharon Edmundson: We don't like the concept of suffering really, do we or
Matt Edmundson: no, we try and avoid it, don't we at all costs?
Let's try and avoid suffering.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. The Bible talks about through. Difficult situations that that's actually where characters formed as well. And then again, it's like, oh, could there not be an easier way?
Matt Edmundson: God, God seriously. Come on. But um, you know, and it, it's one of those things, isn't it? There, there is the reality, the truth, that there is no, what's that phrase?
There's no testimony. Without first having a test. That's it. There's no testimony without first having the test. No. Uh, and so, you know, there's something about challenge, um, which is deeply, uh, strengthening that we're gonna get into, which is uh, is gonna be quite an interesting one. Uh, Matt's put here in the comments, join us midweek for our midweek Prayer zoom meeting at 8:00 PM hashtag plug the zoom.
I think he's talking to me. Uh, so yes, if you would like to be more involved in the Crowd Church community, we would love to see. We do have midweek groups on a Wednesday night, we meet on Zoom cuz obviously it's an online church. Um, and if you would like to come along, meet us, connect with us, pray with us, we would love to see you there.
More information can be found on the website. If you want to connect with us via the website, which I'll put on the screen now. Um, if you wanna go to www.crowd.church, there's also a WhatsApp number on there. You can reach out to us through the website, through the WhatsApp number, and we will quite happily send you details on that meetup.
We would love to see you there. Yeah. Um, especially if you're called Matt. Uh, we need more matt's, apparently. Uh, so come join in those, uh, Wednesday evening groups.
Sharon Edmundson: Wednesday evenings are very chilled, aren't they? We, we basically just catch up with each other's news and just pray for anything, uh, that we pray for. Yes. And we
Matt Edmundson: uh, yes we do. And we try and laugh. Well, at least I do cuz it's a Wednesday night. Uh, so yes, do come join us for that. You'll be more than welcome. Uh, babe, anything else from you while before we wrap up conversation Street?
Sharon Edmundson: I don't think so. No, thank you for joining us today.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah. Thank you for joining us here on Crowd Church.
Next week. We are carrying on our look at the book of Acts. It is yours truly doing the talk, so you're gonna, you know, have to deal with that. Sorry about that. Uh, but, uh, the, the talk we are, uh, we are doing the first three verses of the book of Acts next week. Uh, as we start our deep dive in it, it's gonna take us a little bit of time.
I feel to work through this book. Uh, it's not gonna happen in week, that's for sure. So this week's just been an overview, wet your appetite sort of thing, wet your whistle. Next week we are gonna deep dive, start our deep dive into it. Uh, we're gonna be going through verses one through three where, um, it's that sort of interim period between Jesus' resurrection and Jesus' ascension.
And kind of like there's one or two words in there, which I find really intriguing and we're gonna get into that all next week. So do come and join us for that. I just threw a pen on the floor. Uh, if you, I dunno why. Um, if you haven't done so already, make sure you like and subscribe to Crowd Church and you'll be notified when we go live.
So, uh, Matt's put here, not another 18 months of teaching. I think possibly. I dunno, it's, it's almost like I want to take a bet on how long we think this is gonna last. Um, what I can do, actually, you, you talk for a sec babe. I'm gonna pull up a document here. Ooh talk. What about? Anything you like?
Sharon Edmundson: I'm just trying to think now about, um, whether having a betting thing, uh, in a church is a good idea or not.
I guess if no, if no money's involved, possibly.
Matt Edmundson: Could be a. No, no money's involved. We're okay. So I'm just looking at the, um, I'm looking at the schedule here.
Sharon Edmundson: Do you actually know how long it's gonna last?
Matt Edmundson: No. I can tell you that we have scheduled speakers and topics up until June, the end of June. So the next six months are scheduled, and in six months' time we will have got to chapter seven verse 51.
Wow. So it, it could be slightly longer than 18 months. I don't know how it's gonna work out. Maybe close to two years, but it'll be good, that much we do know, we do like your ideas.
Sharon Edmundson: You could send in your estimates on how many weeks you think. It's gonna take us. Maybe there'll be a chocolate bar of, of a prize.
Can we do that?
Matt Edmundson: Uh, I'm, I'm sure we can stretch to a chocolate bar. Yeah. Uh, I'm not sure if we give a chocolate bar. It's clustered gambling. I don't know. So I think we'll be all right with the chocolate bar.
Sharon Edmundson: Yes. We've forgotten that we've said this by the end, so you might have to remind us as well.
Matt Edmundson: you'll Have to remind us.
So write in the comments, your best estimate of when the Origin series will end. Uh, I'm gonna go for just shy of two years. That's gonna be my, uh, my one. Everyone is now, everyone's now writing peace in the comments. If you wanna know why it is, just cuz that's how we start to sign off. Uh, a lot of things with zoom.
So on our mid midweek groups, when we used to see Matt and people was going peace, uh, and it's usually the end, so Matt's saying two years. Um, yeah, I'd be interested to see where we go to. Okay. So thank you so much for joining us. Uh, we're gonna play a little outro video now, um, which has got a few bits and bobs, few, uh, housekeeping things, which I'm sure you'll enjoy.
Uh, once that is finished, the live stream will end. So that's it from my good self, uh, and from my exceptionally stunning wife. Thank you so much for joining us. Uh, that's it from me. Anything else from you, babe?
Sharon Edmundson: No, just goodbye.
Matt Edmundson: All right, peace. 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.
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. 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.