Choosing Joy In Hard Times

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Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:

• The talk delves into Acts 5, focusing on verses 27-42, where Peter and John are arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin for preaching about Jesus.

• The central point is the importance of obedience to God, boldness through the Holy Spirit, and finding joy in the face of trials and persecution.

• The talk emphasizes the transformation that comes from a personal encounter with Jesus, leading to unwavering obedience and devotion despite the challenges.

• The message inspires hope and encourages believers to deepen their faith, experience the boldness of the Holy Spirit, and find joy in overcoming life's obstacles through their relationship with Jesus.

• Remember, you can watch the full talk by clicking the link in our bio.

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💬 CONVERSATION STREET --

Matt + Dan discuss:

• What do you think was going through Peter and John as they stood and spoke before the Sanhedrin?

• The same Holy Spirit that changed Peter and John changes us now. How?

• How were Peter and John able to go out rejoicing after being flogged? What would your response have been in their place?

• Being misjudged is not a pleasant experience but having the courage to carry on is a much better adventure. How?

• What do you think of this statement - God never promised us a safe journey, only a safe arrival?

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• Complete Transcript

  Sadaf: Acts chapter five verses 27 to 42. Having brought the apostles, they made them appear before the Sanhedrin to be questioned by the high priest. We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name. He said, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood.

  Peter and the other apostles replied, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dad whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior, that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

  When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death, but a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedrin and ordered that the men be put outside for a little while. Then he addressed them. Men of Israel consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.

  Sometime ago, Judas appeared claiming to be somebody, and about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed. All his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing after him. Judas, the Galilean appeared in the days of the census and that abandoned people in revolt. He too was killed and all his followers were scattered.

  Therefore, in the present case, I advice you. Leave these men alone. Let them go for if their purpose or activity is of human Origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourselves fighting against God. His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged.

  Then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering. Disgrace for the name. Day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.

  Anna: So I've been asked to speak on Acts five today and looking at, uh, versus 27 through to 42. Just wanted to very briefly explain the context of the chapter. Partly as a recap and also just to give a bit of context and framework for the three points that I'm gonna be looking at today. So basically, very quickly, the, the background is that the high priest and the Sanhedrin, which is the full assembly of religious leaders of Israel at this time, have just agreed that they're gonna, um, put Peter and John into jail.

  And Peter and John are two of the early Apostles disciples who've been arrested and put into public jail because. Really simply because they were teaching about Jesus. And the reason for this is because the religious leaders were essentially jealous of all the attention that their teachings were starting to attract and the miracles that were following them and they felt like it was causing unrest, and they were worried about damaging their status quo or causing some kind of public unrest just as Jesus previously had.

  You know, and sadly, isn't that so often how people in power and authority, um, react to, to change to people who, are outside of the box? You know, quite often they're protecting their own position of power above all other interests. And you know, sadly we still see that so much today. But I mean, this chapter basically goes on to explain how once they've been thrown into jail, an angel of Lord appears during the night to them, and opens the door of the jail and brings them out and says, go and stand in the temple courts and tell the people all about this new life you have in Jesus. And so, I mean, who's to argue with an angel of the Lord? I know I certainly wouldn't. And so they do exactly that. They, they go out to the Temple Square again the next day and begin teaching about Jesus again. But needless to say, this massively angered the religious leaders that had just imprisoned them once.

  I imagine they were a little confused and scared as well. I mean, how did these guys get back out? Um, why were they there again? And so after all of this happens, they're hauled back in front of the Sanhedrin again for further questioning. And they're deci trying to decide what to do with them. And at this point, Peter's response is in verse 29.

  Well, we must obey God rather than human beings. And I wanna pick up the story again at this point, really in verse 29 onwards, cuz I think it's just got some really interesting points to unpick for us today. So the first point I really wanna make is simply this, that when you personally meet Jesus, it leads to obedience. You know, I love Peter's confident response here. He says, you know, we're, we're obedient to God and not to man. Um, but it, it often leaves me challenged if that would be my response in a similar scenario. If I'm honest, I suspect not. And I, I wonder if that would be any of our responses, to be honest, if someone took issue with us sharing our faith in Jesus.

  You know, if I'm totally honest, I'm often tempted to water down the truth quite a lot and to make it seem like maybe just a little more palatable to other people around me who perhaps don't share my views on faith, or maybe just so as not to challenge or offend others or again, shape the status quo. But you know, not Peter here.

  He has literally no fear of other people's opinions of them. He's not afraid to speak of the truth of Jesus at all. I mean, here he and John are literally being threatened with further imprisonment and maybe even potential death, but they're absolutely resolute about remaining obedient to to God and not to man.

  And it kind of leaves me wondering where this kind of deep determination to be obedient to God regardless of the personal cost or consequences actually comes from, cuz I know it's not something I always possess. But you know, I've been thinking about this a bit over the last few days, and I think it's because they've encountered Jesus personally and firsthand, and because they love him and they know him so deeply.

  You know, first of all, they knew him as their rabbi and their teacher, their religious teacher, and then they knew him as their friend. So they followed him as their rabbi, and then they, they knew him as a friend. And then more recently into the story, they've also witnessed him as their Lord too.

  Their risen Lord and Savior, and you know when he appears to them after the crucifixion several times, and so they really know Jesus intimately. They know who he is. They know his character, they know what he's like. They know as well that what they're saying about him is absolutely 100% true.

  And I think it's because of this, that they can't deny him or water down the truth about him at all. And you know, it actually reminds me of what Jesus previously said to his disciples back in John 14, um, verse 15. You know, when he first starts teaching him about the Holy Spirit and the coming kingdom of God, he says this.

  If you love me, keep my commands and then I will ask the Father and he will give you another advocate to help you and to be with you forever. The spirit of truth or perhaps the Holy Spirit as we and will commonly know him today. But I love this first bit. If you love me, keep my commands. Now, that's a really challenging message for us, isn't it?

  As Christians, it's hard to always be obedient to Jesus, especially when he is asking something difficult of us. But I wonder if we encounter Jesus in that deep kind of personal way that so inspires love and obedience at any cost if, um, this wouldn't be such a challenge for us. And so I wonder if you've ever encountered Jesus in that kind of way. And the second point I wanna make is simply this, that encountering the Holy Spirit leads to boldness.

  So one of the things that most strikes me about the responses of Peter and John in this chapter is just their sheer boldness and the audacity of what they're saying. You know, I think it's a boldness that not many of us naturally have. It doesn't feel man-made. I think it's a boldness that is because they've experienced the Holy Spirit resting upon them such a deep way. You know, at this point, they've seen all kinds of signs and wonders and miracles and answers to Prayer in their midst as they teach and preach about. The, the kingdom of Jesus and, and the Holy Spirit has come upon them.

  And, um, and because of this, they have this supernatural emboldening that isn't humanly speaking possible, I don't think, you know, it reminds me of another verse that you can read earlier on in the Book of Acts where Jesus is describing the coming Kingdom to them. And he says this. He says, but you'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you, and you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria.

  And to the ends of the earth. And now you see here just a few chapters on from that, you can actually see this Holy Spirit boldness coming upon them and you know, it's actually being enacted here in their lives and they are going out and preaching the gospel and taking, um, that message, you know, to the ends of the earth as they knew it at that time.

  You know? Now I know that not many of us will experience that kind of persecution that, um, Peter and John have. In our lives, you know, I know that most of us don't experience, um, Our freed personal freedoms and our very lives being at risk because we share our faith about Jesus with others. Well, there is some parts of the world that kind of persecution obviously does still go on for Christians today, so it's not impossible, but.

  You know, I certainly think that many of us probably have experienced lesser forms of persecution. Maybe we wouldn't even use that word, but we might say that we've been ridiculed or perhaps misunderstood or had our motives questioned or misjudged by friends and family. And you know what? That can also.

  Be really painful and upsetting too, and I think if that's ever happened to you, it can be really easy to well keep your mouth shut in the future and to not rock the boat or risk saying anything about our faith again. You know, and I certainly know that I've been in that position in the past and it has really made me think more carefully and perhaps been a bit less bold about taking risks, um, in sharing my faith.

  But, you know, if that's you right now, maybe the Holy Spirit is just wanting to give you a nudge today. Maybe he's inviting you to ask him for a fresh boldness again. And then the third thing that I just wanted to share was this. That following God leads to protection, deliverance, and an abundance of joy.

  So their story goes on to explain that although the Sanhedrin were furious in the end, they let them go. And the reason for this is that there's a Pharisee called Gamaliel, a teacher of the law who, um, was there and part of their discussions and he reasoned with them and offered them some really wise counsel.

  In verse 38 and 39 of this chapter, he says this. Let them go. If their purpose or activity is only of human Origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men. You'll only find yourself fighting against God himself. Now I think that is incredibly wise advice and pretty sound too.

  And incredibly the religious leaders take it on board. Um, they accept this point of view when the chapter actually finishes by explaining that the apostles were flogged and warned of preaching about Jesus again. But they were eventually let go. Um, it didn't take their lives. And despite the fact they were really angry, and it was because of this guy who was filled with the Holy Spirit who gave them this incredible advice.

  And so Peter and John have really experienced God's protection, his deliverance. He's literally freed them from jail. And, um, and now he's made them a way for them to escape their enemies really and to carry on, uh, doing what he's calling them to do. Um, but at the same time, I really wanna make the point that, um, It's not that Peter and John didn't experience hardship and suffering and persecution because of following Jesus, because as we've seen really clearly in this chapter, they, they did.

  They experienced more persecution than certainly I ever have, and probably you ever have too. But the thing is, they experienced God's protection and deliverance from their enemy's hands, and they really saw God's faithfulness as they continued to, to love and be faithful and obedient to and serve God.

  And, um, it says in, in verse 41, it concludes, the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing cuz they had counted, they had been counted worthy of suffering, disgrace for the name of Jesus. And day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus was the Messiah.

  And you know what I, what I really love about this section is there's a real sense of freedom and joy in this verse. It's almost like bounce. They're bouncing along from place to place, sharing the good news and like nothing's, you know, gonna hold them back. And it actually reminds me of another verse elsewhere in the Bible, um, which can find in James chapter one, verse two to three, it says this, It's a fairly con, it's a fairly, um, well-known verse, so you might have heard it before, but it says, consider it pure joy.

  My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, cause you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. So then let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. And so you can sort of see this idea being worked out in this passage as well that they've had.

  Testing of their faith and that they've persevered through that testing and now they are people who are mature and complete and they don't lack anything. And it's just a real kind of sense of celebration. I think at, at the end of this chapter, you know, the pair are completely undeterred in their determination to to preach the gospel.

  And in fact their faith been tested, but they've only been strengthened and they're resolved and they, that they're more mature in their faith because of the experience. And there's this real, there is this real sense of joyful abandon and freedom at the end of the chapter as they go from house to house, sharing their faith.

  Now, I think this is a totally amazing story. Um, But it's easy to forget that these were just ordinary people. You know, Peter and John were not special. They were just ordinary people like you and I who are following an extraordinary God. And so it leaves me to conclude that this could be our experience of faith as well.

  And so, you know, it does leave me wondering if we could become those people who are also so mature and complete in our faith that we don't lack anything. You know, could we become people who under hardship and persecution might be able to demonstrate that same kind of unshakable obedience to God because we're so in love with Him and we know him so deeply and intimately?

  You know, and could we also become those people who have same kind of unfazable boldness in the Holy Spirit because we're simply so filled to the brim with him. And most of all, I wonder if we could become people who under life's many different pressures and difficulties and challenges could also learn.

  Just like that last verse said to count it all joy. Because those difficulties are opportunity to grow and deepen in our faith. Well, I dunno for sure, but I really hope so. And I believe it's possible because it was possible for other men and women of faith in the Bible. And so today I just wanna leave you with those challenges, um, to make that my Prayer for both you and for I.

  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?

  Simon: The guy was, had his face shot up. I dunno what happened to the other people killed. But the bullet went through his face. And, but he survived, but his face completely mangled and he was, he was maybe fortunate to get sponsorship through an ngo, non-governmental organization for multiple reconstructive, uh, plastic surgery operations.

  So they, you know, did things over, over, over years to rebuild its face. Now even at the end of that, you still can't really talk. But he was given a piece of paper and a pen and, and his eyes sparkles. So you can do a lot communicate through communication through your eyes. And he wrote, God never promised us an easy journey, just a safe arrival.

  He didn't say an easy journey, just a safe arrival, and you are gonna get there. You just gotta hang on in there. Yeah, you gotta hold on in there. Keep your eye fixed. On Jesus. You will get there. Nothing can separate you from the love of God.

  Matt: So welcome back. Welcome back to Conversation Street. Anna's chat there. Anna's talk. Thanks Anna for doing that. Uh, love it when Anna talks, she's just like, I. Just so chilled out, but so challenging all at the same time, right? Just some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth is amazing. Uh, and so we're gonna get into that end.

  Conversation Street, uh, share your thoughts, share your comments if you're with us on the livestream. If you're not with us on the livestream, you're watching Catch up. You're more than welcome to come Join us on the livestream every Sunday. Uh, here on YouTube, we livestream the service. Uh, you can find out more information about that on our website, www.crowd.church.

  Um, and the, the things on the screen, if you're watching, so. Uh, yes. Or if you listen to the podcast, catch up on audio, come join us on the livestream. Anyway, uh, just join us on the livestream,

  Dan: Just come multiple ways.

  Matt: multiple ways. It's is funny now the amount of different avenues that we connect with people. You know, we've got WhatsApp groups, we've got Zoom, we've got social media, we've got email, we've got the website, and it's just like, wow, there's so much going on and, uh, it's, it's great.

  So, welcome, uh, if you are one of the new people we've been connecting with recently, it's great to have you here. Great that you are with us. So Anna's talk count it all joy. Interestingly, the joy was the last bit, uh, that she got took down at the bottom and she gave this great overview of Peter and John getting arrested.

  Um, and given us some context about that, right? That Peter and John were the apostles of Christ. Jesus has gone. Peter and John have had their lives transformed, literally turned upside down in unexplicable ways. And here they are just telling everybody about the goodness of God and they get arrested and sent before the Jewish courts.

  And they put them in jail. Um, and it is a bit of an injustice. We're gonna, you're gonna see that this is gonna be a theme through the book of Acts that quite a lot of people end up in jail that should not have been in jail. Um, and sometimes they escape and sometimes they don't. And, um, but it is a, it is a theme that we're gonna see repeating.

  Um, and this is, you know, one such occasion Peter and and John are, are, are in jail and they're told not to preach the gospel and then I love it. Uh, the fellas says he's quite wise, he's quite a wise guy, goes, listen, if this is from God, you're not gonna stop it. But if it's from man, it's gonna die. And here we are 2000 years later, still talking about it.

  Um, so you kind of go, well, maybe God's been involved in that somehow, uh, the spreading of that, um, that that religion and that faith. Um, and like Anna said, Peter and John has become resolute and said, listen, what's the best thing to do? Obey you or obey God. Tell me, uh, because at the moment I think it's to obey God.

  Have you got a better answer? I don't think you have. Have you really? So we're just gonna crack on is all right. Um, and so it's just a really interesting story, isn't it? Um, and I think Anna's right, you can read this, um, and you can just sort of gloss over some of these facts. Do, you know, what I mean because it's, it's just a few verses and it's easy to read it quickly without. What was going through Peter and John's mind as he, as they stood before the Jewish Council. So, I mean, were they, were they, what was, what was going on? What were they thinking? God, this is not right, this is not fair. Or were they like, this is awesome. God, I, it's just really interesting, isn't it?

  Dan: Yeah, because he, he, he just says it so logically, doesn't he? I like, I like Peter in that he just says, well, well, should I obey God or should I obey you? And it's just a no-brainer for him, isn't it? It's not like, well, it's not really going my way, obeying God cause I'm in prison and, you know, before court and, but, but yeah.

  What, what else, what else can I do? Obey God. Um, yeah, Anna mentioned that, didn't she that the meeting Jesus leads to obedience. And I just pray that that's, that's for me and you and all of us, that when we get into situations like that, but it's, it's that knowledge of God. It's that time we've, we've met him and what he's done in us and the Holy Spirit in us that gives us that boldness to, to rely on him.

  Matt: Yeah, absolutely agree with you, Dan. And I think it, it's a really important, um, setup here that Anna's done. And, um, we were talking about this a bit earlier that, um, The first you meet Jesus, you have to encounter Jesus. And that encountering of Christ leads to obedience. You don't have to be obedient to meet Jesus.

  You don't have to to use a vernacular we might use cuz it's a bit more trendy in church. Um, you don't have to behave to belong. Um, and you don't have to behave to believe. But when you believe because you belong your behavior changes. Does that make sense? And it's, it's a really interesting order. And so, um, for the longest time, the church has tried to preach obedience without preaching Jesus in the sense of, oh, you can't do this, people, you can't do that.

  And Do, you know, what I mean. And so for a lot of people, in a lot of ways, Christianity became a lot of rules and regulations. But no, no, no. This is not that at all. This is all about meeting Jesus. And Jesus will blow your mind literally. And um, as you meet him and as you encounter him, the deeper that encounter, the deeper that revelation, um, the easier the obedience becomes.

  And it's still not I mean it sounds a bit harsh in the sense of it, you know, does that mean I've gotta start living by a series of set of rules and circumstances? You're kinda like, well, when when I got married, my life changed for the better. Do, you know what I mean? And when you meet Jesus, your life is gonna change for the better.

  Dan: Yeah. Changed with, yeah.

  Matt: And so it's not a hardship, it's just

  Dan: Um, we, I learned something today in church that in the, um, the Jewish language of the Old Testament that there's no word for obey. There's just a word for listen, and they say it twice.

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: So they say, listen, listen. And that together means obey. And that's, I'm just, that's just sinking in through today when I keep thinking about that, that the more we encounter God, the more we hear him, the more we hear about him, we, we obey sort of, you know, outta that, if you like.

  Yeah. I was really, I, I really enjoyed, enjoyed sort of learning that.

  Matt: Yeah. John did a great job, didn't he?

  Dan: Mm-hmm.

  Matt: For those of you who don't know, uh, Dan and I go to a church here in Liverpool in the mornings before we jump online, uh, to the, uh, digital version of church. Um, Crowd Church is part of Frontline Church and um, yeah, John was talking about this this morning. Shamar Shamar, wasn't it?

  And um, the more you listen, the more you lean in. The more you encounter, the more you understand, the more you are likely to obey. Um, but principle number one is, is to meet. Graham's put here in the comments what a, what is amazing about their boldness is that these men have witnessed Crucifixions, crucifixions and even floggings, which hurt by the way, and yet they still speak out.

  The Holy Spirit really is something, and that's a really interesting point to make that. It's not like the Peter and John did not know what could potentially happen to them by saying, no, we're just gonna keep doing what, what God's told us to do. And that sometimes obedience, there's a cost to being obedient, but it's a cost you're willing, you are gladly willing to pay that you are happy to

  Dan: yeah.

  Matt: Just like when I got married, there were certain costs to that. Um, there were certain things that I had to do, but I, I was happy to do it. Do, you know what I mean? There were certain behaviors that needed to change now, and rightly so too.

  And here I am, 25 years, still married, so, um,

  Dan: It's worth

  Matt: so yeah.

  Dan: doing.

  Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely, Manny is in the comments. I'm butchering the Hebrew pronunciation, uh, of the word, uh, Shima. Shima. Yeah. Thanks Manny. Um,

  Dan: I like, I like, um, that Yeah. At the, the end of that chapter. So you, you read it and you think, okay, an angel set them, taken them outta prison. Gamaliel has stood up for them and said, Well, if it's God, you can't stop it anyway. If it isn't God, it'll just peter out. Do you think? Okay, they're just gonna go and preach, and it just says in a few words, they were still flogged.

  You know, like, like Graham put there, you know, it didn't, they were still beaten because of that, and then they went out rejoicing. But it's just, it's almost a side note, isn't it?

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: And when we were reading it, I was looking up a quote. There's a man called, uh, Richard Wurmbrand. He's died now, but he was in tortured in Romania, in the Communist times for being a Christian.

  Um, and this is one of his most famous quotes, he said it was strictly forbidden to preach to other prisoners. It was understood that whoever was caught doing this received a severe beating. A number of us decided to pay the price for the privilege of preaching. So we accepted their terms. It was a deal. We preached, they beat us.

  We were happy preaching, they were happy beating us. So everyone was happy. So he was a, a modern day. Um, Peter and John and then, and, and just to, just to sort of. He also said this cuz sometimes we can you, you can take it too far and think, well, cause I'm persecuted, then I must be doing the right thing.

  You know, perhaps if I'm not persecuted, then I'm not serving God. And he said, God won't judge us to how much we endured, but how much we could love.

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: And I just, yeah,

  Matt: Such a powerful,

  Dan: a man. That same Holy Spirit that changed Peter and John changed that man, you know, changes us now. Just amazing.

  Matt: Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. It's fascinating, isn't it? And I think, I think you're right. I think the, you know, and what Anna said is, is right the Holy Spirit. Um, the more we encounter Christ, the more we're likely to be, uh, the obedience is then becomes less of a problem. The more we encounter the Holy Spirit, the boldness, the bolder we become, the more willing we are to step out, maybe outside of our comfort zones because, not because we're reckless, but because actually we feel like God's doing something.

  Um, and the, the holy Spirit's on the move. And then Anna talked about this sort of this third area, didn't she? Of um, counting it all joy, that actually we can trust God. And it's, it is that phrase that, you know, after they got beaten, Uh, and flogged that they came out rejoicing, and you're kind of like, I don't know

  Dan: Would I be doing that?

  Matt: If have the same response. Do, you know what I mean? I'm kind of like, you've just been whipped because for actually. I would say quite unjust reasons. Unfair reasons. And I'm, you understand, I'm viewing this through the, the lens of my, uh, white, middle class western life, right? But I, I do read this and I kind of go, that's a bit extreme boys to beat them for what they did, right?

  Um, but they got beaten and they, they sort of, they go away rejoicing. How does that even work? How, how does that, Do, you know what I mean? How, what was, what would your response Dan be to being beaten?

  Dan: Yeah, and I, I've just, when you've mentioned that, just sort of about the highs and lows of those 24, 12 hours, You know, we talk a lot, don't we nowadays, which is good. We talk about our mental health and, and and, and how we look after ourselves and they've just, they've, they've been put in prison. They've seen an angel.

  An angel has broken them outta prison. They've been in, they've said, yes, I'm gonna stand for Jesus. The high priest has said, you know, if it's in God, if it's for God, you can't do anything out It. And then they get flogged. And then they're rejoicing. They have experienced all those emotions all in one day and, and they come out rejoicing.

  I think sometimes we can, I can dwell on the hard times. Um, and they happened. They happened to them, but they just counted it, counted it, joy.

  Matt: Yeah, they did crazy, isn't it? Nicola put in the comment, she said, uh, being misjudged is a very painful thing, but having the guts to continue is a much better adventure. Um, Which I thought was a great statement actually. You know, being misjudged is a very hard thing, but having the guts to carry on is a better adventure.

  Um, and they, you can look at this and go, yes, they were misjudged and they were misunderstood. Um, and I think there are times, well, I'm, I'm assuming Dan, there are times when you, you've been misjudged or misunderstood, right?

  Dan: Yeah.

  Matt: Not a, not a pleasant experience. Is it really?

  Dan: No, and I, I wrote that down that, especially in this land or time of sound bites, it's very easy, isn't it? Someone just to get a little clip of something and, and that's all they, you are judged by.

  Matt: Yeah. Yeah, it is. It's, um, and it's, it's not straight. Yeah. I, it's not great and it's not nice, but having the courage to carry on, um, is a better adventure. And I think it's, it's actually Nicola, you're very right. And this is what we read in

  Dan: Yeah, absolutely.

  Matt: the apostles left the Sanhedrin rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name of Jesus, day after day in the temple course, from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. They never stopped. They had the guts to carry on. Um, and they had the courage to carry on. And you kind of go, that's inspirational, right?

  That's, that's inspirational. And I think it's inspirational in the sense that you could, you could be listening to this live stream, not yet a Christian, you could be, um, Thinking, well, this is just all a bit crazy. If I become a Christian, am I, am I going to jail? That's not what we're saying. Um, but what we are saying is that actually when you become a Christian and life does not seem fair, and it seems hard, and it does not go the way that we think it should go, even in the midst of that there can be joy, which just sounds a bit odd and peculiar, doesn't it?

  And this is what, um, so this is why Anna then moves over to James one and talks about, uh, what did James, let me pull it up here in my little, my little online Bible. Uh, consider it pure joy. My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, And it's a really interesting thing, isn't it, to con it's, it's how he opens his letter, James.

  It's the only letter I think that James wrote that we know about. Um, and he's writing to the 12 tribes scattered amongst the nations. So there's a, there's a lot of things going on. There's persecution, which is rampant. People are getting flogged, people are getting cru. I mean, there's all kinds of stuff.

  There's persecution against the church, and he opens up his letter with. Count it all joy or consider it pure joy. And you're like, James, did you not read the broad sheet dude? Do you not know what's going on? Um, and yet, you know, why would you open a letter with the can? Why was it not? I'm really sorry to hear what you are going through, man. It's hard. We've been struggling as well.

  Dan: Yeah.

  Matt: Um, let do you know what I mean? It's just No, no, no. It's just, let's count it all joy guys, let's count it all Joy. And you go back to the, the Peter and John there. They left rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering. And I read that and my mind is blown slightly because Dunno about you, Dan, it's not my default mindset.

  Dan: No. No, and I When you were talking then, I was just thinking is that, is that a choice that they had to make? Wasn't, was it their, was their default thing to be considering it joy or was their default thing to be, I've just been flogged. I'm in a lot of pain, and then they thought, no, I'm in pain because I'm doing this

  for Jesus, and they considered it joy. Um, they were men, weren't they? They were just, they were just like us. They're not, they weren't superhuman. They weren't, um, yeah. Special people. They were, they were fishermen. They were, yeah. You, they were like you and me.

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: Yeah. Yeah. And I think perhaps that's why Jesus wrote, um, James wrote it, that he said, consider it joy, you got to look at it differently. I'm just putting out there, you know? Yeah.

  Matt: Yeah, I think you're right. I think for people who are Christ followers, for people that follow Christ, we have a different, we have the ability to view life differently. Um, yes, we have a God that is powerful and can bring deliverance, that can bring healing. We've talked about this, we talked about it a couple of weeks ago and it was great hearing Sarah's story this morning.

  She talked about how. For the last 10 years, she's not been able to eat food that has contained onion and garlic and a few other bits and bits and Bob's gluten, I think, was on that list. So she had a very restricted diet for the last 10 years and felt bad if she went round to people's houses to eat cuz they had to, you know, prepare unusual food.

  And, um, to be fair, we've had this in our house. We've got used to preparing food a little bit like that, but she's said, I suffered with that for 10 years, a couple of weeks ago. I just. There was, uh, someone, uh, in church was talking, Jenny, um, who's been on the Crowd livestream, was talking and just was talking about this sort of the food things, wasn't she?

  And just, they prayed for her and. That was a few weeks ago, and she has eaten everything every day since I talked to her after the service. And she was like, I said to her, I said, what was the, the, the what's, what was the food that you really wanted to eat once you knew you could eat all those foods? She went, lasagna.

  I'm like, okay, don't think that would've been my first choice. Um, and she was like, it just tasted divine and to everybody else it tasted normal. And so we hear of stuff like that, right? Like, Sarah, she gets healed. Sometimes people don't. Um, and sometimes there's persecutions and there suffering. And we, we, we hold this tension, I think in our Christian faith where we, we walk this tightrope between, there are miracles and sometimes there are things which just don't work out.

  And regardless of which avenue we're on, which regardless of which path we're on at this point in time, we can still consider it all joy.

  Dan: Hmm. Yeah.

  Matt: That's remarkable, isn't it? We can still consider it all Joy. And I think you're right, Dan, for me, It is all about changing your perspective. It's all about changing your perspective and as Christians, that we can do that. We have a different lens with which we can view life. Right? We can, we can view it in such a different

  Dan: not your, it's not ignoring it. It's like you say it's perspective. It's looking at it from God's angle, not man's angle, no, it's not saying it didn't happen. I'm just gonna block that out my mind. You know, I could be stronger than this. It's looking at it from, I suppose if we're getting spiritual, like an eternal perspective, isn't it?

  That it's looking at it from, yeah, from heaven. We are gonna meet God for eternity. This is just a, a short time here. This is,

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: yeah. From that perspective. Yeah.

  Matt: I think you're right. I think viewing it from God's protect perspective, um, reframing it and rethinking about it from God's perspective. So that's what you see Peter and John doing. They counted it joy. They were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer for Christ. That's such a remarkable reframing of what's going on. Do you know what I mean? That's, that's, they've taken this horrible situation, they've reframed it and they've managed to find the joy in it. And you kind of look at that and you go, That that's inspirational because I, like I said, I don't know if that's my first response in that situation, but for them it was, and you kind of go, that is cool.

  Good on you chaps. Because that has taught me one or two things that actually I can reframe things. Um, I can trust God. I can see things from his perspective. I remember doing a talk recent, uh, recently, a while ago. I'm talking about the spies. Remember the spies? The, the, the, the spies, the people went into the land to spy out the promised land in the Bible.

  Um, and uh, some of the spies came out and said, man, the giants are so big, we're gonna get eaten alive. Let's not even go in there. And Joshua and Caleb came out and went, those giants are big, but God is bigger, right? So 10 out of the 12 saw the size of the problem, two out of 12, saw the size of God. Um, and somehow in the midst of that, there was a reframing which caused faith, which caused joy and the belief that they could enter in amazing stuff. And we can do, we can do that, right? We can see things like you say, from God's perspective.

  Dan: Mm. Yeah. Yeah. And um, Graham's put, I bet Peters already mind boggling. And would that be part of the joy? I managed it. This is my heart. Yeah. And I should imagine it, it was, you know, we got through that. Thank you Jesus. And we're gonna rejoice.

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: I think, um, the, the little, um, Crowd story clip that came on after Anna's, it's almost like you planned it, Matt, about what was, um, talked about,

  Matt: Oh, Simon Guillebaud. What a legend.

  Dan: uh, yeah. That man that had been shot. He said, it's not, we're not gonna suffer pain. It's about the safe arrival. Wow.

  Matt: Yeah. We were never profit a sa, never promised a safe journey, but we were promised a safe arrival. Uh, and I thought it was such an interesting way of viewing suffering. If you've not listened to that episode with Simon Guillebaud, check it out. The stories are incredible. Uh, what he talks about. Um, and yeah, hopefully we'll get Simon doing some more stuff in the future, but yeah, he, um, what a legend with some of those stories.

  And I think it's totally true, right? It's totally, totally true. Not a safe journey, but a safe arrival. In fact, I wrote that down. Um, and yeah, the other thing that I wrote down that I thought that they, that in this scripture, and again, Anna picked up on it, that I thought was worthy of mentioning in the last few minutes.

  In fact, you just mentioned it, Dan, um, this word rejoicing, the being thankful. Um, so rejoicing, rejoice to redo my joy, I think is very connected to, um, gratitude, uh, and the ability to be thankful for something despite everything else that's going on around you. And that ability to be thank. I think people that lack joy, lack gratitude, just putting that out there.

  Dan: Yep. I think that's a, yeah, a fair point that the great thing about gratitude is. You've got to have thought about what's happened and then realize that what God's done for you, what's in it, joy just falls out. That doesn't it,

  Matt: Yeah, it does.

  Dan: if you realize, yeah. What he's done for you. It's a natural reflex as John Harding would say.

  Matt: He'll love it that you've mentioned that. Score for you? Uh, yeah. Yeah. John Harding's written a book called Reflex if you, if you wanna check that out. It's a great book, actually. Uh, very much worth a read. So, uh, Matt Crew writing the comments. Uh, we will end tonight's livestream with a really bad rendition by Dan Edmo's fizz making your mind up in honor of Eurovision. Yeah, no, we're not gonna do. Making your mind about

  Dan: Yeah.

  Matt: from Bucks Fizz. Yes. We, uh, will end Conversation Street right there. Thanks Matt for, you know, that segue. Um, but yes, we have Eurovision coming up. It is being hosted in our phenomenal city here in Liverpool, which everyone is very excited about. So we've just had the coronation Awesome. Got Eurovision coming up. Fantastic. And if that's not enough, we've got Crowd Church every Sunday. I mean, what more do you want coming out of Liverpool?

  Dan: What more can you ask for?

  Matt: Awesome. Uh, yes. Uh, nice try. Matt says, Graham. Yeah, yeah. You don't want me and dance, dancing and making you mad. Although, I dunno. Dan, if you remember Bucks Fizz winning Eurovision and they had the, the spinning around dancing thing and they ripped their skirts off and it was like, everyone was really shocked and it was like, what?

  What's going on? I remember that from when I was a kid and I've got the LP somewhere, I dunno where it is. Um, shows how old I am. Okay, so promote the Zoom. Yes, thanks Matt. So, uh, if you would like to be part of crowds midweek community, we would love to see you. Uh, in our midweek Zoom, you're more than welcome to come join us.

  More information is available on the website, which is www.crowd.church. Uh, you can find out some more information on there. If you would like to join us, do reach out to us either by email, um, or via the website. There's a little contact form or at social media. Um, which is @Crowd Church and we will send you the zoom link.

  Be great to see you in there. We do have our little midweek community group, um, because it's just great to get with other people, catch up and pray. Just like Peter and John did when they, when they were flogged, they went back to their mates. They all got together and said, woo-hoo. And, um, they, there's that community.

  It's that community of believers and people around you, which can be super, super helpful. So yeah, if you'd like to join us, we would love. Love, love to see you. Dan. Do you know what's coming up next week?

  Dan: Uh, I don't,

  Matt: Yes. I don't, I kind of figured you wouldn't. Uh, I mainly cuz I didn't tell you and I'm sure you didn't check the schedule. So next week, uh, I'm hosting with John Farrington and we have Dave Connolly speaking to us. Uh, and we're gonna be talking about conflict. Oh yes. And then the week after that, I'm looking at Steven, the Martyr.

  We're gonna start a three week look at Steven's life, which is quite incredible. Uh, and that, I mean, you talk about persecution. Oh my. And so we're gonna be asking the question, how do we stand up for what's right? Uh, we're gonna dig into that in a couple weeks. And just to emphasize a point, actually, the Anna said, talking about the ordinary guys doing the extraordinary things, we actually have a talk coming up in one, two. Three, uh, three weeks. So the middle of June, there's a talk called, um, extraordinary People. No, no Ordinary People Doing extraordinary things or something like that. Um, so we've got that talk coming up. I said, oh, it's all great stuff. Really all great. It's like Anna's just paved the wave for the next few weeks.

  Dan: indeed. Yeah. I love that, Steven, just as a bit of a. Gets ready for the, for that talk that Steven was just requested because they needed people to, to help the widows and, and give out food. And so he did. And he preached and he died. Yeah. Ordinary person doing a very, very amazing thing.

  Matt: Yeah, it's one of those things that's sort of weaved throughout the pages of scripture. A lot of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. Uh, and Steven was definitely one of them. So, yeah. Uh, Dave like I said is next week, and we've got all of that coming up in the next few weeks. So if you are not yet, subscribe to the livestream.

  Make sure you hit the subscribe button, and if you're watching on Catchup, on the YouTube, if you fancy it, head over to the website, www.crowd.church, and you can subscribe to the newsletter and we will email you every week. I think we're sending out two emails a week at the moment. One midweek just to say, here's all the stuff from catch up, here's all the podcast links.

  And one, when we go live just to say we've gone live, come check us out and we send you the link. Uh, so, um, if you would like to subscribe to that email to get those, we've got live emails. Uh, do go to the website, www.crowd.church, and they, uh, then you can sign up there. Dan, anything else from you, my friend, before we mosey on outta here?

  Dan: Nope, just me. Oh man. I just gonna sneeze. Sorry. Quick copy with you. I'm gonna blow.

  Matt: There we go. I've just put Dan on mute so you don't have to hear that. That was comedy timing, Dan. Absolute comedy timing, my friend.

  Dan: Oh

  Matt: You all right?

  Dan: yeah. I'm okay now for a few moments.

  Matt: Well, may the Lord fill you with an abundance of healing and freedom from hay fever, uh, and the cold in Jesus' name. Uh, listen, it has been great being with you, boys and girls. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for joining us. Uh, have a fantastic week wherever you are. We will see you next time, uh, from Dan and myself. Bye for now.

  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 dot 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.