Facing The Unfaceable
When was the last time you cried in front of someone outside your closest circle? Not a polite tear at a wedding, but the kind of crying where you just can't hold it together anymore, no matter who's watching. Most of us can't remember. We've got used to curated vulnerability — showing just enough struggle to seem authentic, but not so much that it makes anyone uncomfortable.
Ade Birkby asked that question at Crowd Church this week, and then answered it with an incredible story. A few years ago, on a calm August day off the coast of North Wales, he and a friend went paddle boarding. Within minutes, freak winds pushed them out to sea. Ade spent half an hour crawling back to shore, watching his friend get smaller and smaller behind him, knowing he couldn't go back without losing them both. Coast Guards were called. A local boat nearly turned around because conditions were too dangerous. His friend was eventually found — safe, shaken — but by the time Ade got him home, he walked through the door, saw his wife, and just broke down.
He didn't care who was there. It was just too much.
The Garden That Wasn't a Garden
Before looking at this talk, most of us probably imagined the Garden of Gethsemane as something like a nice public park. Green grass, neat trees, peaceful. It wasn't. It was an agricultural industrial site — the place where olives were crushed to produce oil for the temple.
There's a quiet poetry in that. The place where oil was crushed for the temple became the place where Jesus was about to be crushed for humanity.
And right next to Gethsemane, the land drops off into the Jordan Valley wilderness. It was a well-known escape route, a traditional refuge for fugitives. Jesus could have slipped away in the night and nobody would have found him.
But He didn't run.
What the Four Gospels Show Us
We get three detailed accounts of what happened in the garden (John was likely asleep, so his version skips the details). Each writer brings a different lens.
Matthew, writing for a Jewish audience, shows Jesus fulfilling Old Testament patterns. Mark, the earliest and shortest gospel — designed to be memorised — gives us the raw action. And Luke, a physician, notices something the others didn't.
In Mark 14:34, Jesus says, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." No sugarcoating. No brave face. He is at his wits' end.
Luke 22:44 records that his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. There's a medical condition called hematohidrosis — sweating blood under extreme stress. Luke the doctor spotted what the others missed. We always think of Jesus as divine. But while he walked this earth, he suffered like a human and felt like a human.
Then comes the prayer. Matthew 26:39 says he fell face to the ground — not standing, not kneeling, but prostrating. The deepest posture of supplication a rabbi could take. Hebrews 5:7 adds that he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears. This wasn't quiet, composed prayer. This was raw.
And then, having poured it all out, he stands up and says, "Rise, let us go" (Matthew 26:45-46). Not "let's think about it." Not "maybe tomorrow." Let's go and do this. He embraces what lay ahead despite knowing the full horror of it.
Three things we can take from this.
Be realistic and honest about the situation.
Cry out to God.
And then, in his strength, embrace what's ahead.
God Is Not a Shelter
You may have noticed that our culture — and sometimes our churches — have quietly sold a version of faith that doesn't match reality.
One of the most misquoted verses in the Bible is 1 Corinthians 10:13. People paraphrase it as, "God will never put you through more than you can handle." But that's not what it says. The actual verse is about temptation, not hardship — "God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."
Hardship is a different story entirely. Revelation 6:9 tells us people have been slain for maintaining their testimony. In some countries today, following Jesus is a death sentence. God is not a shelter from life's storms.
But — and this is the bit that matters — he will be with us in them.
Isaiah 65:24 says, "Before they call I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will hear." God knows the situation before we do. Hebrews 4:16 invites us to approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in our time of need.
Notice what's promised there. Grace and mercy. Not deliverance. Not a fix. Not an escape route. The promise is presence.
When Expectations Meet Reality
During Conversation Street, the discussion turned to something that sits at the heart of this Easter season — why people walk away from faith.
Think about Palm Sunday. The crowds are laying palms and cloaks at Jesus' feet, publicly declaring him king. Some gave sacrificially — their cloaks weren't coming back, and it's not like they had a wardrobe full of spares. They'd made a bold confession of faith. They'd given to his ministry. They believed.
And yet, days later, many of those same people were spitting in his face. Or simply weren't there at the cross.
Why? Because Jesus didn't fulfil their expectation. They expected a king who would destroy Rome. They had promises from scripture. They had a picture of what a good God would do. When reality didn't match that picture, they either pressed in or they walked away.
That pattern hasn't changed. We declare Jesus as king. We give. We serve. And when things don't work out the way we expected, the temptation is to conclude that God isn't good, or isn't real, or isn't there.
Dan put it simply — people say "I've lost my faith," but often what they've actually lost is what they thought Jesus was going to do for them.
The thing about Easter, though, is that something better was always coming. God isn't so concerned with our comfort as he is with our transformation and our freedom. And those two things are quite often in tension.
One Day at a Time
Ellis asked in the comments how you hold onto God's promises when things have been going wrong for a long time and your hope is starting to fade.
Ade cares full-time for his wife Sonia, who has severe M.E., while working full-time himself. His own health has suffered. There are weeks — this one included — where he thinks, "How on earth am I going to do this for the next 20 years?" His answer is simple but hard-won — focus on what's next. Study the word. Stay active in community. Take each day at a time. Do what you can, then let go and let God.
Dan shared that his work has been quiet recently and his mood dropped hard. "It's almost like a physical battle," he said. "I just have to keep praying. And I know from the past that he's got me through it. And he will again. Gotta fix my eyes on him."
Sonia put it beautifully in the comments — "One step at a time and know with complete confidence that God is with us."
Where Is God in the Horror?
The biggest question came up naturally — where is God when people suffer?
"Where is God when people are losing their homes, when people are being bombed?" Ade asked before answering. "God was hanging on the cross for them, the same way he was hanging on the cross for you, for me, for everyone else. That is where God is in all of this — hanging on the cross. So the horrors that we see in this life are the last horrors that we will see in any life."
What to Do This Week
Be honest with God. If you're struggling, don't perform for him. Jesus himself fell face to the ground and cried out. You can too.
Check your expectations. Are you frustrated because God hasn't done what you expected? That frustration might be an invitation to trust him with the bigger picture rather than your timeline.
Take it one day at a time. Don't try to solve the next 20 years. Just deal with today.
Find your community. Facing the unfaceable is not a solo sport. If you don't have a community around you, Crowd Church would love to have you — start with the Live Lounge after Sunday's service.
Serve someone in your struggle. If you're battling depression, anxiety, financial worry, or anything else — find someone fighting the same thing and ask, "How can I help you?" Coming at it in the opposite spirit changes something.
The Olive Press and the Cross
The place where olives were crushed for the temple became the place where Jesus was crushed for us. He could have run. The escape route was right there. He didn't take it.
And he didn't take it because he knew what we sometimes forget — that God's plan doesn't always look like rescue. Sometimes it looks like walking straight into the hardest thing you'll ever face, knowing that you are not walking alone.
John 16:33 — "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world."
Whatever you're facing this week, you're not facing it alone.
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# CROWD Church on 2026-03-29 at 19.00.14
## [00:00:00] Welcome and Banter
[00:00:00] Matt Edmundson: Well, good evening and welcome to Crowd Church. My name's Matt Edmundson and it's great to be with you this evening. To my right is the beautiful Dan. How are we doing?
[00:00:16] Dan Orange: Doing good. Thank you.
[00:00:17] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:00:18] Dan Orange: Apart from that, apart,
[00:00:20] Matt Edmundson: apart from your headphones,
[00:00:22] Dan Orange: I think my left ear is bigger than my right ear, so we're gonna have issues.
[00:00:26] Matt Edmundson: Oh, I'm just turn that computer so you can have
[00:00:29] Dan Orange: ear issues. Yeah, ear issues. Apart from that, I'm doing really well. Good.
[00:00:32] Matt Edmundson: Well, I'm glad you're here, Dan. On my — where's Ade? He's not on my right. Almost.
[00:00:38] Dan Orange: No, he's sort of down south somewhere.
[00:00:40] Matt Edmundson: He's, yeah, he is. What can I hear? That's really mental. I'm —
[00:00:47] Ade Birkby: literally in your head.
[00:00:48] Matt Edmundson: Ah, there it is.
[00:00:50] Ade Birkby: Good.
[00:00:50] Dan Orange: There he is. Look at that.
[00:00:52] Matt Edmundson: How are we doing, Ade?
[00:00:54] Ade Birkby: I'm doing pretty good. Both my ears work, as you can see.
[00:01:01] Matt Edmundson: It's the stand that's got issues.
[00:01:02] Dan Orange: I know. Yeah, very tiny ears. They're meant to grow as you get older. They just haven't grown enough yet for the headphones.
[00:01:09] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I've got those fancy in-ear monitors, which Ade told me to get actually. He said get this model and they stay in.
[00:01:16] Dan Orange: Ah, funny.
[00:01:17] Matt Edmundson: We should get you some of them. We should definitely get you some of them anyway. We're not here to talk about ears, interesting as that is.
## [00:01:24] How Crowd Church Works
[00:01:24] Matt Edmundson: Welcome to Crowd Church. If this is your first time with us, a very, very warm welcome to you. The way Crowd works, we're an online church. We just stream over the web.
Tonight you've got me, Dan, and Ade's gonna do the talk. Dan and I are hosting and we are going to be chatting with Ade about his talk as well. To my left, not that you can see it, is my beautiful wife Sharon in the comments. She'll be answering your questions in the comments. So any questions, throw them in, because we're gonna love to get to them in Conversation Street, which is the bit after the talk where we go through your questions and comments.
Lady Birkby is in the house. Hi Sonia, I'm just going through the comments. Ros is there. Alicia's there. Alice. Good evening. Very warm welcome to you all. It's great that you are here.
## [00:02:21] Series Update and Easter
[00:02:21] Matt Edmundson: We are, we've kind of finished.
[00:02:24] Dan Orange: Yeah. It's sort of —
[00:02:25] Matt Edmundson: It's kind of come to an end. Yeah. The whole Becoming Whole series has ended. It is a bit of a big deal because it's like, it's felt like we've been in that whole mini series for 14 years. And this week and next week is Easter.
[00:02:42] Dan Orange: Yes.
[00:02:42] Matt Edmundson: I'm saying that's right, isn't it, Ade?
[00:02:46] Ade Birkby: Yes, it's —
[00:02:49] Matt Edmundson: I like the dramatic pause. Yeah. So Ade's gonna be —
[00:02:53] Dan Orange: You just sending the right notes.
[00:02:55] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. So this week and next week is all about Easter and then in a couple of weeks we're starting a brand new series called Jesus the Revolutionary, which I'm super psyched about. So we're gonna be getting into that, but yeah, it's a little break from the norm. You still having trouble with your wrist?
[00:03:14] Dan Orange: Oh, yes. Constantly. But hey, I can hear.
[00:03:18] Matt Edmundson: That's the main thing. That is the main thing. Anyway, Ade, are you ready for this?
[00:03:26] Ade Birkby: Yep. Ready when you are.
[00:03:28] Matt Edmundson: Awesome.
## [00:03:28] Talk Intro — Facing the Unfaceable
[00:03:28] Matt Edmundson: So this, ladies and gentlemen, is Ade delivering his talk live via live streaming to a live stream. It's very meta when he's live streaming into a meta.
Grab your notebooks, grab your pen, let me hand over to Ade and Dan and I will be back after Ade's talk. But for now, the wonderful, the amazing Mr. Ade. Here we go. Ade, over to you, bro.
[00:03:52] Ade Birkby: Thank you very much. Good evening to you all.
## [00:03:56] Vulnerability and Fear
[00:03:56] Ade Birkby: This evening we're gonna be talking about facing the unfaceable.
If you go back a few years, we were quite familiar with the term "it's okay not to be okay." This is something we really recognised during COVID when we as a nation just got more on it when it came to mental health. Now since then, we've somewhat lost this as our culture has drifted more toward curated authenticity. It's okay to show things are a little bit bad, but not too much, and make sure the lighting's right while you're doing it. And as we talk about very often on this meeting, toxic positivity.
So we're gonna take a moment to look at when things go really wrong. When was the last time you faced something terrifying and felt completely alone, even when you were among loved ones? In fact, when was the last time you showed vulnerability outside your close circle? When was the last time you cried in front of someone other than close family? For me, that doesn't happen often.
## [00:05:09] Kayaking Crisis Story
[00:05:09] Ade Birkby: In fact, the last time I literally nearly lost a friend at sea. This goes back a couple of years. It was a lovely August summer.
I'm fortunate enough to live in this wonderful Victorian seaside town on the edge of the coast of North Wales, and I had a friend over. He was an experienced kayaker, he'd done a bit of paddle boarding, and we went out on the sea at the front where we've been before. Living here, I've been here many times and it was a very normal, just kind of paddle around the bay kind of thing.
Only, it wasn't. After maybe five or ten minutes, all of a sudden wind started hollering over the mountains and we're looking back at the shore and we're seeing waves roll out to us. Normally you expect waves to be rolling into the shore, not rolling out, and this was a drop-to-your-knees-and-paddle-for-your-life scenario.
And we did. Unfortunately the wind was strong. We were being pushed out. It took me 25 to 30 minutes to paddle what it would normally take me maybe half a minute to a minute, and every few minutes I'm looking over my shoulder and I'm seeing my friend get smaller and smaller in the distance, knowing that I could go back to him. But then we're both not getting out. I have to get out and raise the alarm.
So I did. I took about half an hour to paddle in and literally crawled onto the shore, exhausted. A couple of people saw me, helped me on, helped me get the Coast Guards there, and within half an hour the Coast Guards arrived.
You just see these guys in Coast Guard trucks with binoculars and on the radio, and they were radioing with a Coast Guard boat, but lots of other local boats too, and they couldn't find him. Another half hour passed by and one of the local boats said, "It's getting too dangerous out here for us. We have to turn around." So you can imagine what I'm going through in my mind as I've seen my friend get smaller and smaller and smaller into the distance.
And then maybe a minute after that, the little boat said it was turning around and then radioed in to say they had found him. He was then taken to the nearest port. I hopped into my car, drove maybe 45, 50 minutes to actually get to where he was, and found him sitting in an ambulance in pretty good shape. Pretty shaken up, but he was safe.
And by the time I took him home, he just walked in the house. I saw my wife and I just, with my friend there, I just broke down in tears. It was just too much. Having lived with the guilt that my friend could die, and this was my idea. He was borrowing one of my boards. It was just too much. I didn't care who was there. I just broke down.
## [00:08:20] Jesus in Gethsemane
[00:08:20] Ade Birkby: If we look for an example of this in the Bible, I think the best one really has to be Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He takes three of his closest disciples — Peter, James, and John — to pray. He leaves them while he goes a little further into the garden and he just pours out his heart to God in solitude.
Now, a couple of things about Gethsemane. First of all, before I looked into this talk, I always imagined Gethsemane as a nice public park, green grass and trees, just nice and pretty. This was actually more of an agricultural industrial site. This was where olives were grown and oil was crushed for the temple. In fact, there's almost a certain poetry to this when we consider this is where oil was crushed for the temple, and Jesus is about to be crushed for humanity.
The other interesting thing about Gethsemane is right next to it, the land drops off into the Jordan Valley wilderness, which was a traditional refuge for fugitives. He could have easily just slipped away there and no one would ever have found him, but he didn't.
## [00:09:39] Gospel Accounts Breakdown
[00:09:39] Ade Birkby: Now we are fortunate to have four different accounts of this from the four different gospels. Well, I say four, but three really. John doesn't detail the prayers or the agony, he just details that they went there and prayed.
So we have the Gospel of Matthew, who is a Jew, former tax collector and disciple, and this is written for a Jewish audience. He tends to focus on fulfilment of Old Testament prophecies. We've got Mark, who was a companion of the disciple Peter, and this was written for a Roman audience. It's very action orientated, focuses on miracles. It's the earliest of the four gospels, it's the shortest, and it's considered that this was specifically short so it could be learned by heart.
We've got Luke, who is the companion of the Apostle Paul. Very much written for a Gentile audience. When we talk about Gentiles, we mean not Jews, in the biblical sense. This really emphasises Jesus' humanity and compassion. But also Luke was a physician. And as we'll see shortly, he brings some details from a physician's perspective that the other ones would not have seen.
And then finally you have the Gospel of John, who was a disciple. He was one of Jesus' closest, often considered to be in the inner circle. His gospel was very much an eyewitness account. Now, Jesus' disciples — as the story tells us — fell asleep. John was one of the ones there. So we can assume this is why we don't have as much detail in this one.
## [00:11:17] Lessons from the Garden
[00:11:17] Ade Birkby: So the first thing we can learn about Jesus is he was realistic and honest about the situation he was in.
Mark 14:34 says, "My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death." That's heavy. Jesus is showing he is deeply distraught. He's not glossing it. He's not sugarcoating. He's not underestimating the situation. He is at his wits' end. This is an unimaginable horror and he's portraying that and being very straight about it.
Luke, we mentioned, was a physician, and in Luke 22:44 it says his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. Now there is a condition called hematohidrosis, which refers to sweating blood under extreme stress. We always think of Jesus as the Son of God and divine. But while he was on this earth, he suffered like a human. He felt like a human.
The next thing he does is he cries out to God. And interestingly, he leaves his disciples while he goes and pours his heart out to God. Which links with Matthew 6:6 — "When you pray, go into your room and close the door and pray to your Father who is unseen." He really kept this between him and God. There's no spectacle here. Yes, he's gone with his closest friends and left them praying while he went a bit further, but he made this between him and his Father.
In Matthew 26:39, he fell face to the ground. Now rabbis taught different prayer postures — standing, kneeling, and prostrating, which is flat on the ground. Jesus was in the deepest posture of supplication. And Hebrews 5:7 says he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death. He wasn't quiet and reserved about this. He was praying for deliverance from death and suffering, but ultimately we know he died on the cross.
Ultimately, he embraces the situation. In Matthew 26:45-46, he says, "Look, the hour has come and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us go." He accepts God's will and he doesn't resist despite the cost. In fact, "Rise, let us go" — that's the call to action. That's "let's go and do this." There's none of this "we'll do that later." No, now is the time. Let's go.
And again, as I mentioned before, beyond Gethsemane, it drops off to the Jordan Valley wilderness. He could have slipped away in the night. He did not. He embraced what lay ahead of him despite knowing the horrors that faced him.
So how does this help us? Well, I think we can be realistic and honest about a situation. We can cry out to God. And in his strength, we can go on to embrace the situation.
## [00:15:04] Hardships and Discipleship
[00:15:04] Ade Birkby: Now God is not a shelter from life's hardships. And if bad things are happening, it's not a sign that God doesn't like me or my faith isn't strong enough. Things just happen.
James 1:2-4 says, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." So bad things can happen, but they can build your faith.
Matthew 16:24 — "Then Jesus told his disciples, if anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me."
Now that's a hard metaphor. Historians estimate the weight of a typical cross that Jesus would have carried at about 300 pounds or 136 kilos, about eight to fifteen foot tall. The crossbeam section that he would have had to carry would have been about 70 to 125 pounds. So we're talking maybe 55 plus kilos, and this would have been carried for half a mile after he was beaten, exhausted. This is not something easy.
And you might think, "55 kilos, yeah, I can lift that in the gym." This was not a nice ergonomic shaped barbell. This was an odd object. If anyone's tried odd object training, 55 kilos can be incredibly heavy when it's a weird shape. This was not only a weird shape, it would have stuck into his flesh. It's not an easy thing to carry, and Jesus makes it very clear — if we are going to follow him, we are going to face hardships.
## [00:17:10] Misquoted Temptation Verse
[00:17:10] Ade Birkby: Now one of the most frequently misquoted verses that I've come across is 1 Corinthians 10:13, and it generally gets misquoted along the lines of, "God will never put you through more than you can handle."
Now if we actually read 1 Corinthians 10:13, it says, "And God is faithful. He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it." This talks about temptation only and not hardships.
Now, I think some of this common misunderstanding actually comes from a paraphrased version. I've just read from the New International Version, which is a reasonably accurate translation of the original Greek and Hebrew. Paraphrase Bibles tend to add a little bit. They make it easier to read, easier to imagine the context, but if you take them literally, they can be misleading in the message.
The same verse in a paraphrased version says, "All you need to remember is that God will never let you down. He'll never let you be pushed past your limit. He'll always be there to help you come through it." And when you think, "But some people die in his name" — how far is being pushed past your limit?
Revelation 6:9 says, "I saw under the altar those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained." People die for maintaining God's testimony. We are lucky in the UK that we can speak freely about him and not face penalty, but there are other countries where it is literally a death sentence if you are caught. God is definitely not a shelter from life's hardships.
## [00:19:09] God With Us in Trials
[00:19:09] Ade Birkby: However, God will be with us in life's hardships.
Isaiah 65:24 — "Before they call I will answer. While they are still speaking, I will hear." God knows the situation before we do. We just need to call out to him.
Hebrews 4:16 — "Let us then approach God's throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find the grace to help us in our time of need."
Now, notice the promise here is grace and mercy. The promise here is not deliverance. God promises to listen to us, to be with us, to walk with us through that hardship. But not necessarily deliver us from it. And there are plenty of hardships where we just have to embrace the situation in his name because there is no other way around it.
And I'm coming back to James 1:2-4. "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."
Sometimes the things that we most desperately seek deliverance from become the means of God's greatest work in our lives. And without those horrendous situations, he would not be able to step in and perform the marvels that he does. God uses life's hardships to help us grow in him.
And finally, Deuteronomy 31:8 — "The Lord himself goes before you and he will be with you. He will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid. Do not be discouraged." Whatever the situation is, we are not alone. We can step into that seemingly unfaceable situation knowing that he's with us.
## [00:21:39] Community and Burdens
[00:21:39] Ade Birkby: We are also not alone in the same way that Jesus took his three closest disciples, his closest friends, in his darkest hour. We can lean on each other. We can lean on our brothers and our sisters in our Christian communities and our churches.
Facing the unfaceable doesn't have to be done alone.
Galatians 6:2 — "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ." And that law of Christ is to love one another. John 13:24 — "A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."
We are called to be part of a community. So if you are not in a community, it is something great that you are missing from your life. It's also something, as a believer, we are called to be that is missing from your life. Crowd is a community. If you are in a situation where there is no local church, please reach out to Crowd. Even jump on to the Live Lounge at the end of a session. We would love to meet you.
Hebrews 10:24-25 — "And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching."
Do you have community? We are not alone. We are gonna have to go through some horrendous times. God is not going to prevent them, but he's going to be with us.
In closing, John 16:33 — "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world." Thank you.
## [00:23:44] Conversation Street — Hosts React
[00:23:44] Matt Edmundson: Well, what a great talk. What a great talk. Thanks Ade. We had a few power issues, but hopefully we've got them sorted here.
Love it, love thinking about this coming up to Easter. It's that time of year where you think about these things. You always start off in the Garden of Gethsemane, don't you?
[00:24:18] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:24:19] Matt Edmundson: And you're just like, it reveals something about Christ that is just mesmerising.
[00:24:27] Dan Orange: I think it's one of the biggest things that reveals his humanity. That he struggled. The pain of it came up. I heard this question this week — why did Jesus have to die on the cross? Why such a painful death?
[00:24:46] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:24:47] Dan Orange: And when Ade was talking, I just thought, if it was anything else, if it was a death sentence where it was very quick, it perhaps could have been that, "Well, he gave his life. Yeah, but he didn't really — what did he lose? He knew he was gonna rise again." This was — he not only gave his life, but he went through that pain for us. He could have pulled out.
[00:25:17] Matt Edmundson: Mm.
[00:25:17] Dan Orange: He could have said, "No, this is too much. Is this worth it, what I'm gonna have to go through?"
[00:25:23] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:25:24] Dan Orange: But he still went through it. And I think I got a little bit of a glimpse there of why — what he went through for us. Not just the death, the manner of it.
[00:25:35] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Fascinating.
Ellis has put in the comments, "I draw so much comfort from the idea that the Lord himself was so full of sorrow that he craved relief."
[00:25:49] Dan Orange: Mm.
[00:25:50] Matt Edmundson: Which is an interesting point, isn't it? Ade, you got any thoughts on that?
[00:25:57] Ade Birkby: Yeah, there are a couple of instances in scripture where we really see the human side. This is one. The other is infamously the shortest verse in the Bible — Jesus wept, after the death of his friend Lazarus.
[00:26:15] Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
[00:26:15] Ade Birkby: So there are a couple of times where we do see that humanity come through.
[00:26:21] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. And I — not to correct you, Ade, because far be it from me to do that — Jesus wept is the shortest verse in the English Bible. In the Greek or Hebrew Bible, it's not. I learned that the other day.
[00:26:30] Ade Birkby: Oh, okay.
[00:26:30] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. I can't remember which one is, but it was something that I learned the other day and I thought, well, that's a bit of pub trivia.
[00:26:44] Ade Birkby: What pub do you go to?
[00:26:49] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's on the pub quiz. Fair play, that's a good question.
## [00:27:00] Perseverance is Not Escape
So let me just go through the comments here. "I think Christ gives us a model for perseverance in each of the gospels." And I think your point — the Bible challenges us to stretch how we think about perseverance, as it isn't the same as escape.
[00:27:13] Dan Orange: Yeah. And we often talk about that in Crowd, don't we?
[00:27:16] Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
[00:27:17] Dan Orange: It's not "come to Christ, come to God, all your problems will go away." It's "come to Christ, he's gonna be with you through your problems."
[00:27:27] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:27:27] Dan Orange: That grace and that mercy that Ade spoke about.
## [00:27:32] Palm Sunday — When Expectations Meet Reality
[00:27:32] Matt Edmundson: I was planning my talk for in a couple of weeks, actually, with the start of the Jesus the Revolutionary series. And what I was thinking through was the Jesus that we see versus the Jesus that we actually get in the gospels — they're two different things. Or the Jesus we expect is maybe the better expression.
One of the things I thought about this morning was how Jesus was coming into Jerusalem on the donkey — the triumphal entry — as we start to think about it this time of year. And the crowds are all laying palms at his feet, right? They're laying their cloaks down, they're laying their palms, and by doing that, they're making this bold assertion that "you are our king." The laying down of palms was this sign that you are the king. And it's a bit unusual because he's come on a donkey rather than a chariot, but we let that slide.
And so they're laying these palms down and they've put the cloaks down and they've made this public confession that Jesus is the king. This is what we've received, what we've declared — Jesus is my king. And actually some of them would even say they sacrificially gave, right? So they'd lay their cloaks down.
[00:28:57] Dan Orange: Yeah. And they're not getting it back.
[00:28:59] Matt Edmundson: Not necessarily getting it back. And it's not like there's a wardrobe full of them. And so there's this thing where I've made this decision to believe that you are the king, and I've made this decision to give, to serve, to publicly declare who you are. Yet several days later, the same people that were doing that were the same people that were spitting in his face. And they were hurling insults. And you look at the number of people around the cross and they weren't there.
[00:29:32] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:29:33] Matt Edmundson: So what intrigues me is, well, why did that happen? And the best explanation that I can think of is that when they made this declaration of faith — "Jesus, you are my king" — when they gave to his ministry, they had an expectation of what that meant.
[00:29:55] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:29:55] Matt Edmundson: Like, "You will now come and take charge. You will be that man. You're gonna destroy Rome because you are the Messiah." And they had all these promises from scripture.
[00:30:11] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:30:11] Matt Edmundson: So they had these expectations of God based on scripture. And I'm thinking of that going, "That is so many Christians today." We do the same thing. We've declared Jesus to be king. We have given. We have these expectations or these ideas based on promises from scripture. And when that doesn't happen the way that we think it should happen, we either press in or we mock God and start spitting.
[00:30:44] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:30:44] Matt Edmundson: And it all comes down to — well, not always, but quite often — Jesus has not fulfilled your expectation. Whether that's based on your understanding of scripture or what you just think a good God would do. But the thing that we learn about Easter is something better is coming.
[00:31:07] Dan Orange: Yes.
[00:31:07] Matt Edmundson: Right? And there's a different plan. And God is not so concerned with our comfort as he is with our transformation and our freedom. And actually those two things are quite often in juxtaposition.
[00:31:21] Dan Orange: Or sometimes people go to, "I've lost my faith."
[00:31:25] Matt Edmundson: Mm.
[00:31:25] Dan Orange: I've heard that recently. And they haven't — I don't think they've necessarily lost their faith. They've lost what they thought Jesus was gonna do for them.
[00:31:34] Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
[00:31:35] Dan Orange: They thought, "It's not working out the way that I have planned. I've lost my faith."
[00:31:39] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:31:40] Dan Orange: And that's not it. You've nicked a bit of my talk for next week there.
[00:31:45] Matt Edmundson: Sorry. I'll stop talking now.
[00:31:48] Dan Orange: Yeah. Just that expectation of what we think God's got for us. Yeah. And that doesn't happen.
[00:31:57] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:31:58] Dan Orange: Ah —
[00:31:58] Matt Edmundson: So therefore, "God's not got me." And therefore "God is not good." Or "is not real." And therefore I'm backing out.
[00:32:04] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:32:04] Matt Edmundson: And I think, or you go home confused. Maybe you weren't one of the people that actually mocks him, but they weren't there at the cross, is the point. And they've gone home confused or disillusioned or something. And I think it all comes down to expectations of God and what we think Christ should do in that scenario.
Ade, have you had any experience with that?
## [00:32:34] New Believer Reality Check
[00:32:34] Ade Birkby: Yeah. And I think to a point, you can look at every new believer that comes along to church.
They pray the sinner's prayer, salvation, whatever you want to call it. And now they know that's it — I'm going to heaven, I'm a Christian. It's one thing accepting Jesus as your Saviour and wrapping your head around that, but then actually accepting him as your Lord and thinking, "Okay, I haven't just joined this happy bunch of people and God's gonna make everything great."
In fact, I've actually now painted this ginormous target on my back for Satan to come after me, because until this point, I was already going to hell and he didn't care. Now I'm a walking target.
I think it's down to that, like you say — expectations. We come into this as humans. We come into this as broken sinners, and we have the same expectations of broken sinners. And it takes years of studying the Bible, teaching, to begin to get your mind to approach where it needs to be, to really have your expectations in the right order. It's not something you can be told. It's something you have to learn over time.
So yeah, we all come at this with human expectations of a divine deity, and we get our expectations dashed, or we learn there's more to this than we initially thought.
## [00:34:19] Trials Build Perseverance
[00:34:19] Dan Orange: A commentary I was reading yesterday posted that desperation teaches us to trust God. And in that way, the lesson of those desperate times can be considered a form of God's mercy.
And that really took me to Romans, where it says tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance, character. Character, hope. And hope does not disappoint.
[00:34:41] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:34:42] Dan Orange: Because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. So yeah, absolutely. Without those times, we're not gonna learn those things. We're not gonna get to experience God's mercy.
[00:34:57] Matt Edmundson: That's so true. I heard this expression once — "You can't have a testimony without a test."
[00:35:03] Dan Orange: Oh yeah. I like that.
[00:35:04] Matt Edmundson: There's the very definition of the word.
[00:35:07] Dan Orange: Yeah.
## [00:35:08] Faith Without Timelines
[00:35:08] Matt Edmundson: And I think the thing you have to give up, in many ways, in your Christian walk is the expectation that God will perform exactly as you think he will perform, when you think he will do that.
Now, don't get me wrong, there's this really interesting juxtaposition here. There is the walk by faith. There is the "I have a promise from God, I'm holding onto that promise, and I will believe that what he said he will do." And I think that's right and I think that's good and I think that's holy.
But at the same time, my experience is that in that walk of faith, there are also times that I don't fully have the revealed knowledge that I need. So I am making assumptions. I think if God has spoken to you specifically about something, great — you go for it, you believe it. But at the same time, we have to let go of the expectation — or the belief — that God will act exactly as I think he will, in the way that I think he will, when I think he will do it.
[00:36:28] Dan Orange: Mm-hmm. Yeah.
[00:36:28] Matt Edmundson: And I think that's the thing you have to give up in many ways, without losing hope and without losing faith. And the obvious statement to make is that when you die and get to heaven, you will be totally healed, you will be totally free. You'll be very wealthy — well, you're not gonna need any money. But all of those things which bother us here on earth will be nothing in heaven. So we do ultimately get there.
The question is, what happens between now and then?
[00:37:07] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:37:07] Matt Edmundson: And that's that character producing perseverance and all that, isn't it? Because if you just got everything you wanted, whenever you wanted it, what kind of a —
[00:37:19] Dan Orange: Yeah. Spoiled brat would we be?
[00:37:24] Matt Edmundson: So true, isn't it?
## [00:37:25] Holding Hope Daily
[00:37:25] Matt Edmundson: Ellis said, "I found it difficult to hold onto God's promises during the difficult times when things are going wrong for prolonged periods. I do notice my hope waning in certain areas. I remind myself, not my will, but your will be done."
That's a really interesting thing. How do you hold onto that hope when things aren't happening quickly? When you have this promise from God and it is difficult, things are going wrong, things might even be going worse. How do you guys hold on to hope?
[00:38:11] Ade Birkby: It's all about what you fill your head with and your mind with. If you're focusing on all the things that are going wrong and "woe is me," that's not gonna do you any favours. It's the case of we take each day at a time and we fill our minds with things which are positive, wholly good. And there is no easy answer.
As you guys know, Sonia has severe M.E. I am her essentially full-time carer as well as a full-time worker. My health is not good as a result of it. And there are days — and this week's been one of them — where I think, "How on earth am I gonna do this for the next 20 years before I retire?" But I just focus on what's next.
[00:39:09] Dan Orange: Hmm.
[00:39:10] Ade Birkby: I study the word. I am being active within the Christian community that I'm in. And just take each day at a time, knowing that sometimes you just gotta let go and let God. You do what you can. God's given us heads, so we are the best stewards that we can be with the resources we have. But then after that, we just let go and keep him fully in the picture.
[00:39:40] Matt Edmundson: Mm. Such a good point. What about you, Dan?
[00:39:46] Dan Orange: Yeah, I think — not last week, the week before — I've been really struggling with this. My mood can get really down when things are tough, and my work's been very quiet. I need to get some business in. And I've had to — it's almost like a physical battle. It's almost like I have to put one foot in front of the other. And that sounds dramatic, but it's like that. I really have to just constantly pray.
[00:40:16] Matt Edmundson: Mm.
[00:40:16] Dan Orange: Really battle. Just say, "God, I know you've got me." What — I know that I need to do stuff. But in some of those times, it's hard. You just got to trust him. And I just have to keep praying. And I know from the past that he's got me through it. And he will again.
[00:40:38] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:40:38] Dan Orange: Gotta fix my eyes on him.
[00:40:41] Matt Edmundson: That's such a good thing, isn't it? Fixing your eyes on him. "Look unto him" — the author and finisher of your faith. That phrase, "the author and finisher," or "the perfecter" — I should check this out, I mean, don't hold this as theology — but I remember hearing once that that phrase is a bit like a French polisher who just brings that beauty out of the wood. And he's the author and perfecter — he's like the French polisher of our faith. I think that's such lovely imagery.
Sonia said here in the comments, "One step at a time and know with complete confidence that God is with us."
And I think you're right. You've just gotta fix your eyes on Jesus. Like Ade said, one step at a time. "Why worry about tomorrow? Today's got enough trouble of its own." You're just kind of like, "Alright, let's just deal with today then, shall we?" And let's get through this.
## [00:41:43] Why God Allows Suffering
[00:41:43] Matt Edmundson: And I think it is some of the most painful teaching about Christianity in many ways. It's the big question people struggle with — why does God allow suffering? And when you mix that with a sense of justice — there are certain people in the world right now, we won't mention names, who are, let's say, prospering out of the suffering of others.
[00:42:20] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:42:21] Matt Edmundson: And you look at that and if you are suffering and other people are benefiting as a result of it, and they are not good people, you're like, "What's the deal here?"
[00:42:31] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:42:31] Matt Edmundson: But then you've also got to couple that with actually, I can't read the Bible in all honesty and go, "It's not like I wasn't warned."
[00:42:42] Dan Orange: Yeah. I think that's one of the things I love about the Psalms —
[00:42:47] Matt Edmundson: Mm.
[00:42:47] Dan Orange: — is that often the psalmist David writes, he doesn't hold back. And I love that about Christianity, about God. You don't — it's not "I need to read these words, I need to believe these things outside of myself."
[00:43:05] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:43:05] Dan Orange: I'm human.
[00:43:06] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:43:06] Dan Orange: Jesus was human.
[00:43:08] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:43:08] Dan Orange: I need to put my trust — and I can cry out to him. And I can go, "God, why on earth is this happening to me?" You can just be real.
[00:43:18] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:43:19] Dan Orange: With God, you totally can. And I love that. And I just encourage you — be real with God. Don't think, "Well, I've done this, therefore it must be going right. It must be me." Ask God. Ask God why.
[00:43:32] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. And even if you don't find the answer, still keep pressing in. That's the fundamental thing, isn't it?
[00:43:38] Dan Orange: Mm-hmm.
[00:43:39] Matt Edmundson: I like what Anna said — Anna's one of the team here at Crowd, if you're new to Crowd — Anna, when she was talking about all the miscarriages she went through, and people were like, "Well, where's your God?" And she's like, "Well, I'd rather go through this with God than without." Like, where else am I gonna go? I don't have the answers, I don't understand it. But what I do know is God is good and I can trust him and rely on him in the midst of all of that. And where am I gonna go without him? I think that is quite a remarkable question.
## [00:44:16] Perspective on Pain
[00:44:16] Matt Edmundson: I do think though, sometimes — and I don't wanna belittle anybody's experience here — but going back to a point that Ade made in his talk about people who lose their lives, they're martyred because of their faith. Often for me, I have to put my suffering in context.
[00:44:38] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:44:39] Matt Edmundson: My first world problems.
[00:44:41] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:44:42] Matt Edmundson: And I find that some of the most inspiring people I know are actually people like Ade and Sonia. I think super inspiring people. Just lovely people going through stuff that we've got no idea about. But just really faithful people.
Some friends in the States, some friends in London — just what they've been through, but being super faithful through the other side. And I find that deeply inspiring because I go, "You guys have actually got something to — you could complain if you want to, but you don't."
[00:45:15] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:45:17] Matt Edmundson: And some of the stuff that I — I do have to remember. When I had my accident, 22 years ago, as you can see, I'm missing part of my finger. I remember sitting on the couch at home feeling uber sorry for myself. Properly down in the dumps. And you could go, "Well, fair play Matt, you did cut three of your fingers off."
And I remember sitting there feeling sorry for myself and there was — do you remember the TV show ER?
[00:45:55] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:45:55] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, ER was on TV. That's how long ago it was. And I was watching, and the whole episode was about one of the doctors who'd flown to be a doctor in Africa, like a relief doctor type thing. And in the show it changes his life. And you see some horrific things. And I remember — and I know it's drama — but I remember sitting there watching that going, "Can't really complain about missing the top part of my finger, can I?" And it just brought that sense of reality to me.
And when James said, "Consider it all joy when the testing of your faith" — I don't think he's talking about your dishwasher breaking down. I don't think that's the testing of your faith that he is talking about.
[00:46:42] Dan Orange: I think — is it only Luke? I reckon actually died of old age. Everyone else —
[00:46:47] Matt Edmundson: Oh, is it John?
[00:46:48] Dan Orange: Was it John?
[00:46:49] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Died on the island of Patmos.
[00:46:50] Dan Orange: Yeah. Pretty much everyone else had pretty —
[00:46:53] Matt Edmundson: Some serious —
[00:46:54] Dan Orange: Serious issues. Yeah.
[00:46:56] Matt Edmundson: More than a washing machine breaking. Yes.
[00:46:58] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:46:59] Matt Edmundson: Fascinating one, isn't it? It is a fascinating one. Ade, have you ever gone through that thing of feeling sorry for yourself because you don't feel like God's answering your prayers?
[00:47:10] Ade Birkby: Not particularly. Yeah, I have days where I'm grumpy because it's the same old, same old, and things haven't magically gotten better. Not that I expect them to. But with Sonia and I, we're not the kind of people that mope around and feel sorry for ourselves. We're natural problem solvers.
My problem is I want to use the abilities that God gave me all the time. And that means I can sometimes forget to rely on him. I might try to fix everything. I drive Sonia nuts trying to fix everything. That's the deep end I tend to fall off.
## [00:47:52] Where God Is in the Horror
[00:47:52] Ade Birkby: Just going back to "Where is God?" amongst horrendous suffering. Two things spring to mind.
First of all, in Genesis, God gave man dominion over the earth. That means, "Right, this is yours now, you look after it. I'm just gonna stand on the sideline." And yes, in his grace, God occasionally intervenes.
The other thing is — where is God when people are losing their homes, when people are literally burning because they've been bombed in a religious war or whatever? God was hanging on the cross for them the same way he was hanging on the cross for you, for me, for everyone else. That is where God is in all of this — hanging on the cross. So the horrors that we see in this life are the last horrors that we will see in any life.
[00:48:42] Matt Edmundson: That's such a powerful way of putting it. Love that.
And I also totally empathise with the fact you try and fix things.
[00:48:51] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:48:51] Matt Edmundson: Are you the same?
[00:48:52] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:48:53] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Is it a male thing, do you think?
[00:48:54] Dan Orange: I think it's one of the biggest things about being married, isn't it? I mean, any marriage book would say —
[00:49:00] Matt Edmundson: Don't fix it.
[00:49:00] Dan Orange: Sometimes, yeah. Your wives, they don't want you to fix it. They want you to just say, "Okay." And that's hard.
[00:49:07] Matt Edmundson: Sharon, you're agreeing with this — but I know you're not on a microphone. Do we try and fix it too much?
Sharon: I think you used to.
Matt Edmundson: We've calmed down a little bit.
Sharon: I think you ask these days.
[00:49:20] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. That's what I'm meant to do.
[00:49:21] Dan Orange: Yes.
[00:49:21] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Please give me direction and leadership.
We, yeah, it's funny isn't it? That whole thing. I don't, again, not to stereotype, but I think we do try and fix things. And it's very hard when you can't.
[00:49:36] Dan Orange: Yeah. And when Ade said that, I just thought, where's our reliance?
[00:49:41] Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
[00:49:41] Dan Orange: We can — it's not wrong to use things, not wrong to use tech to help us with this stuff. It's not wrong to go to the doctors, to see a therapist. But if your reliance is on someone else, something else, not God — it's always gonna fail. It's never gonna be quite enough.
If your reliance is on God, then he can use those other things for good, can't he?
[00:50:06] Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
[00:50:07] Dan Orange: But when they fail —
[00:50:10] Matt Edmundson: Mm-hmm.
[00:50:11] Dan Orange: — your whole world fails. But if your reliance is on God, you can't fail. You're held.
[00:50:16] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. No, that's such a good point.
## [00:50:28] Community and Serving Others
[00:50:28] Matt Edmundson: Right, let me go back to the comments. Alicia says, "One of my most difficult faith-based decisions was choosing to reach out to struggling young relatives a while ago. Conviction told me to spend money on Bibles and creature comforts for them, and another relative, older and aware of my current financial limitations, was worried about using my resources this way. However, since that time, these children have seen more at peace. I even saw one of them with their Bible at a time when I was starting to doubt my purpose. I think that was God showing me we can help each other, not necessarily despite our struggles, but because of them."
Love that. So true, Alicia. And I think in all of this, again back to Ade's point, one of the things God has provided for us in the midst of the struggle is the community — the wider church body.
[00:51:29] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:51:29] Matt Edmundson: And I think that's a really powerful point there, Alicia — that we help each other not necessarily despite our struggles, but because of them.
I think it is incumbent in many ways upon the church to — the Bible says that when one part hurts, we all hurt. And so we have to reach out and help each other. And I think that's a really interesting point actually.
One of the things I would say — if you are struggling in a certain area, let's say you struggle with depression — one of the things that I would do in that area is go and find somebody who is struggling with depression. Not to sit there and go, "We're both struggling with depression," but to go, "How can I serve you? How can I help you? How can I give to you and sow some seeds into that whole area?"
[00:52:37] Dan Orange: Yeah. That's good.
[00:52:38] Matt Edmundson: It's that whole coming at it in the opposite spirit. I mean, you're not to be praised too much because he's on screen — I don't wanna make his head too big — but Ade and Sonia are awesome people. So Sonia is not able to get out and about too much, but she's always texting people.
[00:52:57] Dan Orange: Yes. Yeah.
[00:52:58] Matt Edmundson: Praying for people. And I think that's awesome. Who can you serve? Who can you help in your community would be a big point.
## [00:53:12] Live Lounge and Closing
[00:53:12] Matt Edmundson: Right, let's move on to Live Lounge. This is the part of the service where we are gonna switch off the YouTube livestream and move into the Google Meet.
Sharon's put the link in the comments. If you are watching online now, why don't you come join us over there? Just click the link. It just works a lot like Zoom. You don't have to have your camera on, but if you've got one and you don't mind turning it on, I'll be in there. Dan will be in there. Ade's gonna be in there. It'll be great to see you.
If you are a regular, if you're new, come say hi. It'd be great to see you in Live Lounge.
But before we close the livestream, Ade, anything from you in closing?
[00:54:12] Ade Birkby: Yeah, I think just coming back to community. When you think about 1 Corinthians 12, what Paul is talking about — one body, many parts — and he likens different people to different parts of the body.
I think we all have things that we struggle with, some much greater than others. But it's like we all tend to struggle with different things. So as we come together as part of a greater body of Christ, we can help each other. Because yes, this might be broken on me, but I have this that works, and that's broken on you, so maybe I can help you with that, and so on. I think that's worth consideration.
[00:54:51] Dan Orange: Yeah, I think so. And I don't think — does the WhatsApp link on the Crowd site still work?
[00:55:01] Matt Edmundson: Actually, that doesn't work.
[00:55:02] Dan Orange: That needs to be taken down.
[00:55:03] Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Sorry.
[00:55:05] Dan Orange: But you can still message, so if there are things you're struggling with this week, we'd love to pray for you. Just send them through and we'll happily pray.
[00:55:16] Matt Edmundson: Yeah, absolutely. Do that. We've got in the comments — go to crowd.church/meet for the Live Lounge.
Alicia says, "Participating in the live streams was also a faith-based decision. I'm so introverted that I was scared to, but this community is as warm as it seemed in the recordings."
Well, it's very kind of you to say that we're warm. It's lovely to have you, Alicia. Do keep coming along. I appreciate that online church is one of those things where you could just watch and not engage in the comments. But it's lovely that you do, and it's really great to have you. What you say and your input is wonderful.
So let's switch off the live stream, let's head on over to Live Lounge. Do come meet us in there. And if you are around next week, it is Easter Sunday.
[00:56:19] Dan Orange: Mm-hmm.
[00:56:21] Matt Edmundson: Dan is speaking.
[00:56:21] Dan Orange: Yeah.
[00:56:22] Matt Edmundson: So come listen to the Right Reverend Dan Orange come speak. It will be great. And it's Sharon's birthday. So please do send all gifts and cards courtesy of Crowd Church, Liverpool. Oh, no gifts — we're decluttering apparently.
Awesome. Alright. God bless you. I'll see you in Live Lounge. But if you're gonna end with us on the live stream, have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world. We'll see you next time. Bye for now.
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