How to Have a Faith That Pleases God
Here’s a summary of this week’s sermon:
In the midst of life's fiercest storms, where do we anchor our trust? In this teaching we uncover a profound truth: the kind of faith that not only endures but thrives in adversity – a faith that moves mountains.
Navigating Through Life’s Storms
Paul's journey, as narrated in Acts, is more than a mere historical account; it's a beacon of hope for every soul battered by life's tempestuous waves. In Acts 27, we see him, a prisoner, embarking on a perilous voyage to Italy. His warnings of impending disaster, drawn from a life seasoned with trials, are disregarded, leading the ship and its souls into a violent storm.
Here, we find a striking parallel to our lives. How often do we ignore the gentle nudges of wisdom, only to find ourselves in the midst of chaos? But the story doesn't end there – it's just the beginning of an exploration into the depth and power of true faith.
The Promise of God
The crux of Paul's journey, and indeed our lesson, lies in the promise of God. This promise, a beacon in the storm, came to Paul in a time of dire need. "Do not be afraid, Paul; you must stand before Caesar." The simplicity of these words belies their profound impact. Herein lies the essence of faith that pleases God – a steadfast belief in His promises, even when all physical evidence points to the contrary.
Faith Beyond Seeing
True faith is not just believing in God's existence; it's about trusting in His character, His promises. It's about holding onto hope when the stars of guidance disappear, and the sun of assurance is hidden. Paul's faith, as he stood on the tempest-tossed ship, was not in the strength of the vessel or the skill of its crew, but in the unshakeable word of God.
Spurgeon once eloquently questioned why we find it so hard to believe God. The answer lies not in the complexity of faith, but in the challenge of surrendering our doubts and fears. True faith is an unwavering trust in God, even when the ground beneath us seems to crumble.
The Impact of Our Faith
The faith that pleases God is one that stands firm in trials. It's a faith that echoes through our actions, our decisions, and our words. As Paul's trust in God's promise spread hope among the despairing crew, our faith too can be a source of strength and encouragement to those around us.
Resting in His Promises
In the heart of the storm, Paul remembered God's promise and rested in it. This act of faith is a powerful example for us. As we face our own trials, let us remember the promises God has made to us. Let’s cling to them, not as fleeting words, but as unbreakable anchors of hope.
Conclusion
"How to Have a Faith That Pleases God" is not just about believing in the unseen. It's about trusting in the character of God, resting in His promises, and allowing that trust to transform how we navigate life. It's about having a faith that moves mountains – a faith that stands tall amid the storms, shining as a testament to the unerring faithfulness of God.
In embracing this faith, we find not just solace, but strength. We become beacons of hope in a world often clouded by uncertainty.
This faith that pleases God, it's not passive; it's dynamic. It actively seeks to understand, to grow, to persevere. It's a faith that doesn't just endure storms but uses them as catalysts for growth. It teaches us that each challenge we face is an opportunity to deepen our trust in God's promises.
So, let us walk this journey of faith with conviction. Let us hold onto God's promises, not as distant concepts, but as living, breathing truths that shape our every day. Let's be inspired by Paul's example and cultivate a faith that not only believes in God but fully trusts in His unchanging character and His eternal promises.
The path to having a faith that pleases God is laid out before us. It’s a path marked by trust, hope, and unwavering belief in the face of life’s storms. This is the journey we are invited to embark on – a journey towards a faith that moves mountains.
As you navigate your own storms, remember this: true faith isn’t about the absence of doubt; it’s about choosing to trust God even in the presence of doubt. It's about resting in His promises and knowing that, come what may, His faithfulness is our shield and rampart.
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Matt Edmundson: [00:00:00] Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service. We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps us live a more meaningful life. We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith, and a place where you can contribute and grow. Our service will last about an hour, and in a few seconds we will start with a time of worship, after which you will meet our hosts for our service.
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You can also subscribe to our podcast called What's. It's the story where we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people. More information about all of these things that I've mentioned can be found on our website at www. crowd. church or you can reach us on social media at crowdchurch.
If you're new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know what your next steps to take are why not head over to our website, crowd. church, forward slash And now, the [00:02:00] moment you've been waiting for is here, our online church
Peter Farrington: service starts right now.
Dan Orange: Welcome everybody. It's really good to be back. How are you doing
Ruth Orange: Ruth? I'm good. Thank you. Yes. Nice to be joined with my sister. Again. I guess one month ago or two months ago. It was a
Dan Orange: while back, wasn't it? Yes. We had some technical issues. Yeah. Which is par for the course when I'm doing it, but we're all good.
We did seem to have a very old intro there. Sorry for that. So there's no worship now. We'll have the talk coming up very shortly. Cool. How have you, what have you been up to? How's your week been?
Ruth Orange: I've started exercising again, Dan. Very good. Mainly because, or well, spurred on today because our Josh beat me in an arm wrestle.
And how's Josh? That's not good. He's 13. He's very strong. Yes, I am definitely back on the exercise. I'm going for my first run for a long time tomorrow. [00:03:00] Yes.
Dan Orange: So January. So a little bit late in January, it's normally the beginning of January, isn't it? I'm
Ruth Orange: not a resolutions person, so it's happening now.
It's happening because of
Dan Orange: your 13 year old
Ruth Orange: nephew. I'm not old enough yet for him
Dan Orange: to beat me. I've had a busy week of weddings, of birthdays, my wife's birthday and my daughter's birthday in the last four days. So lots of cake,
Peter Farrington: Lots of sweets. Oh my goodness, you should see that house.
Yes.
Dan Orange: My daughter, we asked her what she wanted for her birthday. She's 11 and she just said sweets. She did ask for some dried cranberries, which are sort of natural sweets. But yeah,
Peter Farrington: she likes sweets. She does.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. I like that she knows what she likes. Yes. And it's not expensive. Yeah. I should be thankful that's what she
Dan Orange: asked for.
It is. She if someone gives her money she equates money to how many, Double dips. I love this. She can buy, so double dip is like sherbert dip and 25 pence. So she gets a pound and she's that doesn't mean a pound to me, that means four double dips. [00:04:00] Nice.
Peter Farrington: Yeah. Nice. That's
Dan Orange: what she equates money to.
I think I like that childlike lifestyle.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. Yeah. I like that. That's fun .
Dan Orange: Anyway today we are actually on. The penultimate. So we've got only three talks left in the Acts series. So it's been going on for a long time. We're actually down to three and we've gone all the way through Acts.
So we've got Pete Farrington this week, which I'm really looking forward to. Excuse me, without further ado, let's listen to Pete. If you've got any questions, just Send them in either on YouTube or Facebook and we can see them here and we'll endeavour to answer them afterwards. Yeah, any questions, anything about the talk, send it through.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. Nicola, you're right. It's not Matt. Oh, look at that.
Dan Orange: Have they put the names on? They, being me, I've put the names wrong. Oh, okay. Well done, Dan. Hopefully when we come back after the talk, we'll have magically changed into two different people.[00:05:00]
Ruth Orange: Nice to see you on Nicola though. Yes.
Dan Orange: Sorry people, we had things freeze and stuff, but here we go, here's the talk. As I said, any questions, just fire them through and we'll be back after Pete.
Peter Farrington: Hello, and thank you for joining us for this next talk in our 13 year series in the Book of Acts. We did start a long time ago, but we're nearing the end.
So today we're in chapter 27, and this entire chapter is dedicated to providing us with quite a detailed account of Paul's voyage. and Shipwreck on his way to Rome where he was to make his case before Caesar. It's a very technical passage and it could leave you thinking a little bit like I might just skim read this one.
But I think this passage does show us something really important about both man's nature and what God is like. So I'm going to pick out a few verses and give you the story as we go along. We'll start in verse one. And when it was decided that we [00:06:00] should sail for Italy, they delivered Paul and some other prisoners to a centurion of the Augustan cohort named Julius.
Down to verse 7, We sailed slowly for a number of days, and arrived with difficulty off Snidus. And as the wind did not allow us to go further, we sailed under the lee of Crete off Salmone. Coasting along with difficulty, we came to a place called Fair Havens, near which was the city of Lasea. And verse 9, Since much time had passed, and the voyage was now dangerous, because even the fast, that's the day of atonement in the autumn, was already over, Paul advised them, saying, Sirs, I perceive that the voyage will be with injury and much loss, not only of the cargo and the ship, but also of our lives.
But the centurion paid more attention to the pilot and to the owner of the ship than to what Paul said. Then going down to verse 18, Since we were violently storm tossed, they began the next day to [00:07:00] jettison the cargo, and on the third day they threw the ship's tackle overboard with their own hands. When neither sun nor stars appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay upon us, all hope of our being saved was at last abandoned.
Verse 21 continues since they had been without food for a long time. Paul stood up among them and said, man, you should have listened to me and not have set sail from Crete and incurred this injury and loss yet now I urge you to take heart for there will be no loss of life among you. But only of the ship.
For this very night there stood before me an angel of the Lord, to whom I belong and whom I worship. And he said, Do not be afraid, Paul, you must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be [00:08:00] exactly as I have been told.
But we must run aground on some island. The story continues, and Paul and everyone on the ship, that was over, I think about 275 people, they all survived, and Paul did eventually make it to Rome. But at the beginning of that passage, verse 9, Paul gave them a warning. And he wasn't speaking as a prophet there, but he was just sharing his opinion as an experienced traveller.
We know from elsewhere, 2 Corinthians 11 verse 25, that by this point, Paul had already been shipwrecked three times. So he knew what he was talking about, and he knew that sailing in this season was dangerous. But unsurprisingly, the centurion had a higher regard for the opinion of the chief sailor and the owner of the ship.
And for the opinion of one of his prisoners, Paul, because both the centurion and the owner of the ship had much to lose if the ship didn't make it to Rome and in good time. As we move through the [00:09:00] chapter, things go from bad to worse very quickly, and it looks increasingly like what Paul said was going to come true and that he would be proven right, that this voyage was going to end in disaster and great loss of life.
And the crew if you read the whole passage, they employ multiple strategies to try and change their fortunes, but it's all to no avail. And at last we read in verse 20, All hope of our being saved was at last abandoned. I think this is where God's word shines a light on something really significant about the nature of man and the nature of God.
Because you may remember from just a few chapters ago that God had already given a promise to Paul that he would not die in this storm. Because he said in Acts 23, when Paul was in prison after standing before the council and the high priest Ananias in Jerusalem, the Lord appeared to Paul and said this, Take courage, for as you've testified to the facts [00:10:00] about me in Jerusalem, So you must also testify in Rome and Acts 19 verse 21 also tells us that Paul knew that after going to Jerusalem, he quote, must also see Rome and he hadn't yet made it to Rome.
So it wasn't his time yet, but that promise, which was given to him in Acts 23 was to give him courage whilst he was imprisoned in Jerusalem, but it was also given to strengthen his heart in the midst of the storm. If he would remember it. How often is that the case that we enjoy the benefits of a promise once and then we have no memory of it the next time we are in need?
I am so like that. A favorite of mine, favorite preacher of mine Spurgeon spoke about how it is just staggering that we should ever find it difficult to believe God. He says that if our hearts and minds were as they should be, faith in God would just be a matter of course. And [00:11:00] that even now, it ought to need a crushing argument to persuade us to entertain even the slightest doubt of God.
And it's most of all surprising, he says, that God's children should ever doubt him. Especially those who have been so highly favoured as some of us have been. Like if I were to say of a neighbour, I find it hard to believe him. I do not know what worse we could say of him, Spurgeon says. Or we could think of a child and his father.
If a child were to say of his father, You know my father. Yeah, he is in high, he is in high repute, but I find it quite hard, I find it quite a struggle to believe him. That man's own child confesses that he finds it hard to believe him. Will that not bring forth from us the blush of shame and the tear of repentance, Spurgeon says, to think that we would have ever spoken thus of God, our Father?
Is there any proof of our fall more conclusive than this? Is there any proof of our sin more conclusive than [00:12:00] this? When we come into deep trouble, how is it that we mistrust His goodness? How is it that we do not rest in God in all things, great or small? When we come into deep trouble, how is it that we mistrust his goodness?
He that is true to his covenant, and to his oath, will be true in the very jots and tittles of his promises. And Spurgeon spoke there about child and father, and Psalm 103 tells us beautifully about what God is like as a father. It says this, As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
For he knows our frame. He remembers that we are dust. He knows our frame. He knows how feeble and weak and forgetful we can be. And we see such a beautiful reminder of his mercies. and his patience towards us when he appears to Paul again here in the midst of the storm. He could [00:13:00] have just rolled his eyes oh, here we go again.
They're doubting me and putting my trial, my character on trial again. But he doesn't respond like that. God says in verse 24, he appears to Paul and says, do not be afraid, Paul. You must stand before Caesar. And behold, God has granted you all those who sail with you. And if you start from page one of the Bible and you just read through, one of the major patterns and one of the threads that weaves in and out throughout the whole narrative is that of God repeating his promises again and again to his people, over and over again.
And time again, his people give into doubt and forget his promises and end up taking matters into their own hands. And it happens almost immediately and almost every time, but God does not stop reminding them of the words he has spoken. Like he says, I will, he said to the [00:14:00] Israelites while they were enslaved in Egypt, I will bring you up.
out of the land of Egypt. I will deliver you out of the hand of Pharaoh. This I will do, surely I will do it. And if you just read that narrative, it's over and over and over again, even though they're not listening half the time. And even though they forget it almost immediately. And the other thing that you see as you read through the Bible is that he is a God who keeps his promises.
I was just reading the other day from a book in the Old Testament called One Kings. And 1 Kings 8 it's where King Solomon is dedicating the temple that he had built to God. And he looks back on over 400 years of history of his people, the Israelites. And he says this in verse 56, Blessed be the Lord who has given rest to his people Israel according to all that he promised.
Not one word has failed of all his good promise. Which he spoke by Moses, his servant, the Lord, our God be with [00:15:00] us as he was with our fathers, may he not leave us or forsake us. He was talking about way over 400 years of history, and he could have gone all the way back even further to the very beginning.
And he would have been able to see the very same thing. But let's go back to Paul in verse 25. He said this to the crew on the ship and to all the prisoners. So take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I've been told. He says, I believe God. I have faith in God. I believe in him.
Now there are many characters in the Bible and people today who have. Absolutely no trouble believing that God exists and yet are utterly opposed to him. Satan would fall into that category. But there are different types of faith. I believe that there is a country in Asia called Tibet. I believe that it exists and it appears on every world map and it might be [00:16:00] that one day I meet someone who claims to come from this country called Tibet.
But my believing that Tibet exists doesn't have to have any impact at all on the way I live. Unless I were to become a cartographer or take a geography exam, but my believing that Tibet exists does not make me, it doesn't make me Tibetan either. Just like believing that Christ exists doesn't make me a Christian.
The question, it's not about Some sort of intellectual belief or merely an intellectual belief in the existence of God, but it's a question of trust. Do you believe him? It's a question of where your hope and your trust is and then living out of that, allowing that faith, that belief to actually determine the way that you live.
So it's a little bit more like we can imagine the way that you have faith in a, in someone who builds a chair. Thank you, bye. The chair that I'm sitting, if I bought the [00:17:00] chair that I'm sitting on from someone, and the person who made it said to me, Hey, this chair can support your weight, it won't collapse beneath you, I am a skilled worker, I use only the best materials, and it can totally support your weight, you can sit on it.
Believing in God is a, it's a little bit like believing in the person who made the chair. If you believe the person who made the chair, if you believe what he said when he said it won't collapse under you, then you can actually sit on the chair and have faith that it can support your weight. It actually impacts the way that you live.
And a bit like the man Job, in the midst of all of his testing, he said of God, Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him. That's Job 13, verse 15. This is the kind of faith, the kind of hope that we're talking about. That even in the [00:18:00] midst of the darkest trials, that you can still trust the nature and the character of God, that you can trust his heart his motives and his power.
And Paul on that ship had no hope outside of God's promise to him. Everything else had been stripped away from Paul and the other 275 people on the ship. All their skill, their expertise, their status, their cargo, their tackle. They couldn't hope in any of it. They were just at the mercies of the waves.
And we see here in this story of Paul on that ship that a promise, it's only of benefit to you if you believe it, because it's when Paul it's the moment when Paul takes hold of the word that God had spoken. It's then that he had courage and he has total certainty. He says, it will be exactly as I have been told.
Isaiah 26 verse three says this, you keep in perfect [00:19:00] peace those whose mind is stayed on you. Because he trusts in you. It's funny, as I've been thinking about all of this we've been going through a bit of a storm in our family life recently. Only that the waves are the Home Office, and the winds are Borders and Bureaucracy.
About six weeks ago, we had a visa application for my wife rejected. That's at the end of November, and right in the run up to Christmas, it was a terrible time for it to happen, and also we're at the tail end of my wife's current residence card in the UK, so there's not a huge amount of time it's all been very stressful trying to figure out what our next steps are what our rights are, speaking to solicitors, and Writing lots of letters and trying to get the whole thing sorted.
And in the midst of all this, I think with it also being Christmas, I've been reflecting a bit on a verse in Isaiah 7, where God gives a sign to [00:20:00] King Ahaz. Ahaz asks for a sign from God. And God says this is the sign that he gave to Ahaz of his salvation. He says, Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
And shall call his name Immanuel, God with us, Immanuel, God with us. And I've been thinking, do I believe that God is with me? Or do I just give into panic? Do I believe that God is with me in such a way that it actually changes the way that I respond to situations? And if not, if that's not the case, do I really believe it?
That's the challenge. That's what I'm talking about with faith and actually sitting in the chair, trusting that it can hold your weight. And all of reality is resting on a promise. It's that promise that God will be true to his word, that he will be true to himself and that he will not change.
And that's how much is at [00:21:00] stake here. It's God's very nature and character. Is he trustworthy? Is there any integrity in him? But Matthew 24 verse 35 speaks again about God's integrity and his faithfulness and his ability to fulfill his promises. It says this, Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
Isaiah 55 verse 11 says, So shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty. But it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. There's another quote from Spurgeon that I love where he says, Did not the Lord hang the world upon nothing but his word?
And cannot we hang our souls there too? It is grand to stand like the arch of heaven, unpillared and yet unmoved, resting only on the invisible God. [00:22:00] And the storm that was so great that Paul was in, that they couldn't trust any longer in their skill or expertise and all that stuff. This really speaks to the way in which God has saved us in Jesus Christ.
Because he's done it in such a way that we have no claim to boasting. We can't say, ah, I did that was me, because I mentioned earlier about, about Moses and those 400 years of history between Moses and Solomon. But when Moses was in was in Egypt with the Israelites, God delivered his people out from under the oppression of Pharaoh, who would enslave years.
Just as he promised to Moses, as they walked through the sea, he held up the waters on either side for the Israelites to walk through on dry ground. And then they turned around and were able to see the waters of the sea crash over their enemies. And in a [00:23:00] similar way, we can look back and see that God, because of what Jesus has done for us on the cross, that God has cast our sins into the depths of the sea.
And just as the Israelites saw the waters destroy their enemies, that's what God has done. That's what God has done with our sin. He's put it in the bottom of the sea, just as he said he would do. And so today you can hang your soul on his word, the word of his promise. You can trust him.
You can trust that he is good, that he is faithful. And that he's powerful and that he will do everything that he has said he will do. So thank you very much for listening. Bye bye.
Sorry,
Dan Orange: clicking buttons. That was great, wasn't it? Yeah. I really Pete's talks. He's nice [00:24:00] and clear and down to earth. It's great to hear. Great to hear, not just his sort of explanation of the word of God, but also to hear him. Use it in his own life.
Ruth Orange: Yeah, and it's just, he's not just talking from a book.
Yeah. It's real, isn't it, when you can tell he's talking real. Yeah. Yeah, that's really good, I like that. Yeah.
Dan Orange: I like this is the reason I do this, is that because I believe Christianity and God is real, obviously, but not just real as in, I believe it. And like people say, it's a chair, we can rely on it, but that we've seen it in our lives and we use it we have to rely on him and his promises.
Yeah. Yeah. What, [00:25:00] looking back at the talk, what things stood out to you? What points
Ruth Orange: it was. Yeah, there's lots of things. I think. What was the first thing? The first, I think the first thing I was thought of in this first paragraph really, he was talking about the captain of the ship doesn't listen, didn't listen to Paul.
Did he? He listened to the other, no, I can't remember who. There's two people, didn't they? Yeah. The owner. Was it the owner? Yes.
Dan Orange: Owner and the captain. Yeah.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. And at first it's yeah, because you'd think that because the owner knows the ship, the captain knows what to do, but I thought it just immediately made me think of life now and society now that you people don't listen to God because they, they think somebody who's got a degree or somebody who's written all these books or somebody that's got lots of money on the telly, listen to them because they know what they're talking about.
But when you think about it. Oh my goodness, God, surely God knows more what he's talking about than anybody else because he's the one that started everything off. So I think it's really easy to, because there is a lot of information out there, isn't it? Even [00:26:00] more now easily
Dan Orange: to hear. It's easier to find stuff, isn't it?
Yeah, it really is. And it can be, it's probably a very small amount that's true. We can find information. Yeah,
Ruth Orange: very quickly. And I think for Christians as well it's a. Yeah, it's a great place to be careful of because you can have a question, just Google it quickly or look something up instead of the first.
And that is not bad to do that, is it? Of course it's not. But the first thing, isn't it best first to be like, God what are you saying about this? What have you said? And then base everything on that. It's much more secure place, way to live our lives.
Dan Orange: Yeah, I agree totally. And the interesting thing was that it wasn't just Paul. So Paul knew from God that they were going to be safe. He had that truth, but he also had experience of three shipwrecks as well. So it's yeah, I've been in this situation before. This isn't good. I can tell [00:27:00] you. Yeah, I like that.
So he had that practical experience. Yeah, but he also, he'd heard from God too.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. Yeah. And it doesn't, and it shows also, doesn't it, that God's not saying, look, I'll keep you, I'll keep you at peace as in nothing bad's going to happen to you. Yeah. Yeah.
Dan Orange: This is, that's the thing. This is Paul, the person that bought the message of Christ through Europe and the Roman Empire, and God allowed that he'd be shipped back three times.
If not, if this is the, the fourth
Ruth Orange: time. Yeah. And it's, yeah. I just think I, I like that because you, he was in the storm. It doesn't mean there's not going to be any storms, but God's in it, in the storm with us. And so often we can believe God said something to us or read something from the Bible and say, yeah, this is the right way to do it.
Or God said this in the Bible, and then something happens that isn't very nice. And we think, Oh my goodness, God's left us. Why is that happened? happened? He hasn't left us, just bad stuff happens, [00:28:00] doesn't it? Yes, it does. Yeah, but it's easy to
Peter Farrington: do,
Dan Orange: it is, yeah. And that, I like that point that Peter brought up that Charles Spurgeon said and we, it's very easy to forget the promises that God, so promises God has spoken over us.
in the past, so things he's spoken to in the past, and he's done. So if you've been a Christian for a while, you'll know, things that he's done for you, he's answered prayers, and we can forget those things. But if you haven't been a Christian, or you've not experienced that, you can read his word, and know that's the truth.
And know his character. Yeah, isn't it great that the character of God is true, and the Bible doesn't say anywhere. He got messed up or he did 99. 9 percent of everything he said, he accomplished all that he said.
Ruth Orange: It says that Peter said something about that, didn't he? Not a jot or tittle. Yeah. No, I think that I can't remember.
Somebody told me about what [00:29:00] tittles are. I can't remember. Something to do with, are they to do with money? I'm not sure. But but I love that, that he doesn't just do what he says. Every jot and every little bit, every jot and tilde is done. Yeah, even the bits that we've forgotten that you said you would do for us.
Dan Orange: Yeah. I quite looking at I'm not in any way an archaeologist. I just I find it interesting people, what people dig up and find. And there's a friend who we knew from a long way back, John McNeill, and he's an expert in this. And he knows all about, I don't know, he could probably read hieroglyphics and all that kind of stuff.
And. There'll be gaps in our history that we have in our books of different things that have happened. But the Bible will have, a record of a king or a city or something that's happened and secular, it's happened a few times that secular history goes, Oh, but that didn't happen. We haven't got any record of it.
And then there'll be out excavating and digging and find some kind of tablet and go. Ah, that's that city that's [00:30:00] written in the Bible and I love that, that things that we see outside just keep filling in and proving God to us and showing that his words are correct and his histories, his history is right.
Yeah. Is there anything else that
Ruth Orange: you've got written down? Yeah, there's loads of There's loads of stuff that he was saying, I really like and then the verse where it talks about the God to whom I belong, I don't know what to say about that, but I love that verse. I just, I don't know, just something about Peter's words, like Peter's, that Peter Farrington, but also, the person who wrote that, Paul it's just very, that's great.
Like you're talking about being real, that's real, isn't it? He knew who he belonged to. Yeah. If you know who you belong to, that's you're going to be okay. You don't have to know everything in the Bible, but if you know who you belong to, then you can keep going [00:31:00] and you can do stuff that's hard.
Dan Orange: And I also, so Peter talked about, God knows our frame, he knows who we are and he knows our makeup as well. He knows that we do worry, he knows that we do forget things, yet he's still. Persist, he still put up with us and he still said to Paul, don't be afraid. So that message wasn't go and tell the sailors and the others don't be afraid.
He did that anyway, but that don't be afraid was to Paul and Paul knew that God had told him before it's okay, you're going to get to Rome, but he still says, don't be afraid. He still knows. Okay. I've done all these things for you. I know you trust me, but I'm going to just say it to help you.
Don't
Ruth Orange: be afraid. Yeah. And he doesn't roll his eyes. Peter said that. Yeah. I love that. I literally, the other day I was thinking, I was walking to work and thinking, Oh God, you must be rolling your eyes at me again because I'm [00:32:00] saying, I'm finding something hard or thinking I can't do it. My default a lot of times is, Oh man, what am I doing?
I can't do this. But he doesn't roll his eyes at me, he tells me that I can, or, okay, maybe you don't think you can Ruth, but I can do it. That's what I've been learning about the last few days actually. He's wherever he puts us, or even if we've made a mistake and we've put ourselves in the wrong place, I do believe that if we give ourselves totally over to him, he can do anything with us.
Anything, nothing's impossible. He says that in the Bible, doesn't it? And I do think the more, the less of us and the more of him, he can do whatever he needs to do. Yeah.
Dan Orange: I I wrote down that we can put our trust in God and Paul put his trust in God still with shipwrecked, still things happen to him.
And it reminded me of Daniel. And Daniel said, even when his. [00:33:00] Him and his friends were thrown into the, or his friends were thrown into the fire. I trust God, but even if I die, I trust God. Yeah. Isn't that great? Yeah. Just I trust God that he's got me. I trust God that he's saved me. Yeah. I don't know all his plans.
Yeah. I don't know where my life practically is going. Can I still trust
Ruth Orange: him? Can you just hear him? Who he is? Yeah. Not that the next thing is going to be easier, what we thought it was going to be, but we can trust who he is. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Like the chair thing Peter was talking about that it's proven that as well, isn't it?
We can say we trust him. But that's what Peter said, didn't it? It's a faith that there's two different types of faith, but will I, will we allow What we believe to change how we live and if we don't, if we say believe in, but then we don't do something because we're not [00:34:00] sure or we, I don't know, we let ourself worry so much that we don't enjoy what we're doing or at peace, what we believe isn't changing our lives and how we live, is it?
Yeah. Yeah. If I was with my friend the other day, where were we going? My sense of direction is like the worst in the world, Dan knows that. And I was with my friend, I think we went to Treasure Oaks and I didn't know whether we, when we came out the door, cause it's all in square, isn't it?
I didn't know whether we needed to go left or right, like which way we'd come. Yeah. And she was like, Ruth, how have you been like all these countries and not got lost because your sense of direction is so bad. But if I had relied on my sense of direction, there's no way I would have stepped out the door, let alone get on a plane.
Yeah. But a trusted God would get me to where he said he was going to get me. And he always did, always, every time. And I'm, yeah, I'm glad that I did because my life is different because I did.
Dan Orange: Yeah. I've written down here that belief leads [00:35:00] us to trust. So the more we believe in the more experience we have in God, the more you can trust.
If you don't have that, then. Then read about, read the Bible, see all the stories in there, other people, find other people and read their stories. I love listening to testimonies. There's, you can listen to that crowd of the crowd stories, which are brilliant. Just people now living now and answers to prayers, great, really great stories.
Just brilliant, amazing what God has done through normal people. And then. There's loads of books. I've listened to a book. There's a guy now called Rhys Howells, Intercessor, and it's the first time I've read that book. Is it? Yeah. Oh, brilliant book. And it's amazing how God speaks to a man. Yeah. I'm in a few weeks time, I'm doing a talk on prayer.
And one of the things that's really stood out to me on this is prayer isn't throwing things out to God. [00:36:00] Prayer is answers. It's it's a two way, two way thing and it's great to, to hear just practical stories of God, hearing
Ruth Orange: and answering. Yeah. And then prove God, sit on that chair say to God what do you want me how do you want this to go or what do you want me to do?
And put it out to him and then prove him and he'll, he will speak and he will let you know what he wants. And it's, but also if you're going to say that kind of thing, be prepared because he will answer. So many times, just literally the week I prayed something and two days later. I felt like my world was totally shaken again.
Oh my goodness. What? Why do I feel like this? What is going on? Why is everything cool? Like a volcano inside me. And then suddenly felt kind of God reminded me, Ruth, you just prayed that prayer the other day. I was like, Oh my goodness. Yes, I did. Didn't it? And that, but he, so if you pray in some ink, if you thought then be prepared [00:37:00] because he's, he doesn't, yeah, he doesn't, he takes things seriously, doesn't he?
And he's, I love the verse where he says, I'm, he's a jealous God. I don't know. If that's related to this or not, but he does this, yeah, he didn't take things lightly. No,
Dan Orange: no, it doesn't. And it says everything will pass away. Yeah, but his word will remain. And I love that he is whenever I'm praying for people.
I, I often pray that his just repeating the phrase is his word doesn't return to us void. Return void. Yeah. When God speaks, it has to change things that's just inherent in God's word and his power. It can't come back to him void at the end. There will be nothing, but there will be His word at the beginning there was nothing but his word and it word spoke and everything came into being.
I love that. [00:38:00] And he's given us. Tongue, hasn't he? He's given us words to speak to so we can ask him for things that we can celebrate, that we can worship.
Ruth Orange: And we can call things into being too, because we have that spirit in us. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he mentioned about casting our sins into the depths of sea, didn't he, Peter?
That's a truth, a word, but we can so often Forget that or bring
Dan Orange: them, bring them back, dredge them back up. Can't
Peter Farrington: we? Why are you doing that? They're
Ruth Orange: in the depths of the sea.
Peter Farrington: Yeah. God's forgotten about them. Yeah.
Dan Orange: He's forgotten about them. Why do we bring them back up?
Peter Farrington: Yeah.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. So it's proving sitting on that chair all the time. I'm going to remember that this week. Sit on the chair, Ruth. Yeah.
Dan Orange: Yeah. Yeah. Remember our promises.
Ruth Orange: Yeah. And not. Promise of who he is, yeah. Yeah. And he's, yeah, he's unchangeableness.
Dan Orange: Yeah, is there [00:39:00] anything else you had written down?
Ruth Orange: I think that was all of the things.
Yeah.
Dan Orange: Matt's put that down, yeah, sit on the chair. Yeah. And we've got, there's some questions, not really much about the talk, so someone's asked Ashton, where's the studio based? And we're in a idyllic industrial estate in the heart of Liverpool. Yeah, most of the crowd that are hosting and doing the talks are based in Liverpool, but there's some around and about as well.
Are there?
Ruth Orange: Yeah. I don't always do it from the studio. No,
Dan Orange: no, some of the talks are done by people, out and about. Cool. And, oh, yeah, I had a quick look at Ashton, he said Yeah. Yeah. Pete. In the Bible it says Immanuel and it's about with an I And
Ruth Orange: I noticed that before Christmas.
Dan Orange: Yeah, it is. In most versions of the Bible it's about with an I, but on Christmas cards [00:40:00] it's an e.
Yeah. I don't it must be just a spelling thing. One of those things that's, it's a translation, isn't it? So how it's come across. Yeah. Yeah. So we've got, next week we have Sharon and Rachel hosting. And it'll be the penultimate Acts talk by Will and after the Acts talks, we've got some great new series coming up as well, so we've got Roots of the Spirit, we've got some practical talks on different things about being a Christian, so I'm quite looking forward to those talks.
Yeah. It's been a
Oh, I never know quite how to sum up what we've said. I wish I could pause and do a bit of a, in the uk. So if you are not listening from the uk, there's a series called Grand Designs and at the end it's this amazing little summing up. But anyway, trust on his promises.
Believe, believe in that chair, know that God. [00:41:00] It's good and it's not, we're not here saying we've got it all sorted. I've got things with my work at the moment that I've desperately trust in God for and I have to put my trust in him. That's, it's my it's not just my spiritual life. It's my livelihood and we do this and we.
Yeah, I'll happily come back next week and whenever I'm hosting again and tell you how things are going. Yeah,
Ruth Orange: and let it change your life. Yeah. That's the thing. Yeah.
Dan Orange: And if you've got any prayer requests that you'd like the team here to pray for you, please just email them. You can put it on their message as well, but just drop a, an email or text to the WhatsApp and we'd love to pray for you.
We'd love to see. We love to give our requests to God and not just for us, for others as well. Yeah. Great. We'll see you all next week. Thanks [00:42:00] so much for listening. Bye.
Matt Edmundson: Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church, now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified The next time we are live.
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So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website www. crowd. church where you can learn more about us as a church, more about the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community. [00:43:00] 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.