Stop Trying So Hard to Be Good Enough
Most of us have believed at one point or another that before God would ever want anything to do with us, we'd need to sort ourselves out first. Fix the relationship. Kick the habit. Calm the anxiety. Become a better, tidier, more impressive version of who we are now. So we put off the whole question of faith until we're good enough — which, if we're honest, is never.
This week Dave Connolly took us back to the moment where Jesus first started gathering people around Him. It's a short story, just five verses, but they pack a punch. Because Jesus doesn't call the impressive people. He calls fishermen mid-shift. And He doesn't ask them to clean up first. He just says, "Follow me." This isn't another try-harder message. It's' the opposite.
The Story Happens on an Ordinary Tuesday
Jesus is walking along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. He sees Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John doing exactly what they did every day, mending nets, working the boats, expecting another long shift of hard graft. These aren't religious experts or leaders or anyone you'd pick out of a crowd. They're ordinary people doing an ordinary job.
And Jesus says two words that change everything. Follow me.
"He saw some ordinary fishermen going about their daily work, ordinary people doing a daily job. And Jesus spoke two life-changing words to them."
And when you read this in Mark's account they respond immediately. Mark loves that word. It comes up again and again, like the whole thing has an urgency to it. They leave the nets, the boats, even the family business, and they go.
There was no return plan. James and John weren't walking away from nothing — they ran a successful operation, hired help, real security. They had something to lose. And they left it anyway, with no guarantee, no exit strategy, just a decision to trust the person calling them.
Why a Rabbi Choosing Fishermen Was Revolutionary
To feel how strange this is, you need a bit of background. In that world, a student would normally go and pick their own teacher, their own rabbi, and try to earn a place. Here it's flipped. The teacher chooses the students. And He chooses people nobody would have shortlisted.
That's the part worth holding onto. Jesus didn't begin with the qualified. He started with ordinary men, and the New Testament keeps that pattern going. As Paul put it in his first letter to the church in Corinth, God chose the foolish things to shame the wise, and the weak things to shame the strong (1 Corinthians 1:27). The point isn't what these people could do. The point is what God could do through them.
Maybe you feel unqualified. Overlooked. Like you're not the type of person any of this is really for. The calling of these fishermen says the opposite. Jesus sees more in people than they see in themselves.
I Will Make You
This is where the pressure comes off.
Jesus says, "Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men." He's talking to fishermen, so He uses fishing language — He's not going to start on about farming or building. But notice what He actually promises. Not you'll have to become impressive enough to do this. He says I will make you. The transformation is His job, not theirs.
It's not a striving. It's a surrender.
The disciples didn't have to manufacture change in their own strength. They just had to walk with Him, watch how He did things, and copy Him. That's really what a disciple was — someone learning to live like the person they followed. As Anna put it during Conversation Street, we so often hear people say I don't know if I'm ready, I'm not good enough yet. But it was never going to be them doing the work. It's God doing it in them. We're never quite ready. He takes us anyway.
If you've ever tried to be a better person by sheer effort, you'll know how that ends. You get tired. Dave's been a Christian a long time and he was honest about it — when you just make yourself busy doing God-shaped things in your own strength, all you get is worn out. The invitation isn't to try harder. It's to walk with Him and let Him do the making.
What Are the Nets You Won't Put Down
So if following Jesus is surrender, the real question becomes a personal one. The fishermen put down their nets. What are the nets for us?
Dave named four that most of us recognise:
Fear — the quiet sense that it's safer not to risk it
Pride — wanting to arrive already sorted rather than be helped
Comfort — preferring the life we can control
Self-reliance — the belief that we've got this on our own
It might also just be a distraction that's slowly crept in and now sits between us and any sense of God. Dave was candid here. For the first couple of years after he became a Christian, there was one area of his life he'd never really handed over. He wasn't even struggling with it. He just knew it was there, unsurrendered. And eventually it surfaced, and he walked away for around eighteen months, into a worse place than he'd started. The point he drew from it is freeing rather than frightening.
It's not about being perfect. It's about being surrendered.
You don't have to have everything fixed. You don't have to win the fight before you show up. You just have to be willing to bring the thing into the open and hand it over.
Following Jesus Looks a Lot Like Walking
There's a slower picture underneath all of this, and it's a good one. Years ago Dave used to walk a big park in Liverpool every week with a friend, just walking and talking. Someone once took a photo without them knowing — snow coming down, the two of them side by side, Dave watching the other man's face as he spoke. You don't get that from a quick phone call or five minutes in the car. You get it from walking together over time.
That's the kind of thing Jesus invited the disciples into. Not a quick interview to check they were clever enough. Not a programme to complete. He invited them right into His life — to walk closely with Him, watch how He handled things, and learn by being near.
There's a passage Anna read out that puts it beautifully. In Matthew, Jesus says:
"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me, watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly." (Matthew 11:28-30, The Message)
Unforced rhythms of grace. That's the antidote to all the striving. Grace, by the way, just means a gift you didn't earn and can't earn — God's love arriving before you've done anything to deserve it.
Worth saying clearly though, easy doesn't mean effortless. Jesus also said my yoke is easy, my burden is light — but a yoke is still something you wear. There's a walk to be walked. As Dave put it, the rope only chafes when you start pulling against the older, wiser, stronger ox beside you. Go His direction and it carries.
When You Wonder If God Even Likes You
During Conversation Street someone wrote in something raw. God hates me. Too much bad luck, too much stress.
If that's anywhere close to how you feel, it's worth hearing the answer plainly. God doesn't hate you. The whole story runs the other way — He sent His Son to seek out the lost, not to wait around for the people who already had it together. That feeling that God is against you doesn't come from God. It's a lie that keeps you at arm's length from the very person who's reaching for you.
This connects right back to the fishermen. Jesus chose a ragtag bunch of ordinary people. Not based on performance. Not on skill. Definitely not on education. And the invitation hasn't changed.
Someone else raised the old question of whether Jesus was even a real figure, or just a myth. The historical evidence is genuinely substantial — there's more documentation that Jesus existed than for plenty of figures we never doubt. But Dave's response cut to something simpler. If He's a myth, who is this that's transformed my life? Who is this now living in me? The four fishermen later went to their deaths rather than deny what they'd seen. People don't do that for a story they made up.
So What Do You Do With This
Here's where it gets practical for the week ahead.
Name your net. Be honest about the one thing you've quietly kept off-limits — fear, pride, comfort, self-reliance, a distraction. You don't have to fix it. Just stop pretending it isn't there.
Swap striving for surrender. Notice where you're trying to earn your way into being good enough, and let that go. The promise is I will make you, not you must make yourself.
Build in some walking. Find one regular, unhurried space — a walk, a coffee, a chapter of one of the Gospels — where you're simply spending time near Jesus rather than performing for Him. Dave's tip is a good one: stay in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John for a while and let the character of Jesus rub off on you.
Don't do it alone. Jesus called twelve, not one. This was never meant to be a solo effort. Find people to figure it out alongside.
If you've drifted, just come back. Dave did. He came back to grace, not to a telling-off. The door isn't locked behind you.
The One Question Left
Notice what Jesus didn't ask the fishermen. He didn't ask if they were ready, qualified, or good enough. He just asked them to come.
The question was never whether Jesus is calling. He is, and the invitation is as real for you as it was for four men on a beach. The only question is whether you'll respond.
And if you're not sure He's even real, that's a completely fair place to start. You could pray something honest like Jesus, if you're real, show me — and see what happens. Or come and ask your questions with us. The Alpha Course is a relaxed few weeks of exactly those conversations, no pressure and nothing to lose, and Anna found it the place a lot of her own questions got answered.
You don't have to be good enough first. You just have to come.
Whether you've been part of a church for years or have never set foot in one, there's a place for you here. Join the conversation at crowd.church, and if you've got real questions about faith and want somewhere honest to ask them, take a look at the Alpha Course at crowd.church/alpha. We'd love to walk this out with you.
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Matt Edmundson: Well, good evening and welcome to Crowd Church. Great to be with you this evening. My name is Matt, and beside me on my left I have the beautiful Anna. Anna, good evening.
Anna Kettle: Good evening, everyone. Nice to be here again.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, it is.
Matt Edmundson: It really is good to be here. Good to have you. And on my Right, is equally beautiful, Dave Connolly.
Dave Connolly: Oh, thank you. It's great to be here.
Anna Kettle: Oh, so that was an interesting shot there of the corner of my ear.
Dave Connolly: I was going to say someone's knocked the camera.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I reckon that would have been Dan.
Dave Connolly: It wasn't me.
Anna Kettle: I definitely wasn't me. I haven't moved. Oh, it's all getting already—
Dave Connolly: they're all taking responsibility.
Anna Kettle: There's Dave, not to be confused with me or Matt. Yeah, yeah.
Matt Edmundson: And it's just, I just felt like Adam in the garden.
Dave Connolly: Did you?
Matt Edmundson: Well, in the sense of it wasn't my fault, it was Eve's. I'm just like, it wasn't my fault, it was Dan's.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Straight away. If you're listening to this on the podcast, by the way, catching up and you're wondering what is going on, the cameras just got bashed. And so when we went to Dave's shop, it wasn't Dave, it was Anna's ear. Anyway, we're back to normal. Good to be with you all. Make sure you say hi in the comments as we will love to hear from you. Let us know where you're watching from in the world. What things are going on. And of course, today is a very special day, Dave. Today is Father's Day.
Dave Connolly: It is?
Matt Edmundson: It is. And, uh, I, I quite enjoy— I was talking about it earlier— first time ever on Father's Day all my kids are out of England.
Dave Connolly: Wow.
Matt Edmundson: I don't know what that says.
Anna Kettle: It either says you're a really bad dad or you're a really good dad and you've launched them well. I'll go with the latter.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna take that.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, yeah, it's okay.
Matt Edmundson: It's all right, it's all right. So if my kids are watching, which I highly doubt because they hear my voice enough— uh, all right, kids. Um, but yeah, if you're a dad, happy Father's Day. Uh, I know Father's Day is not easy for everybody, um, but I'd like— I think it's good to celebrate Father's Day where we can, just because God is Father, right?
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: And so, um, yeah, whatever relationship you did or didn't have with your dad, uh, you can have a great relationship with God as Father, and it's probably just worth saying that.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think that's so true.
Matt Edmundson: Fantastic. All right, well, on that bombshell, um, should we get on with it? So today Dave is speaking. Uh, we're going to start— we're talking about Jesus being the revolutionary. That's the whole series that we're in, and we're starting a sort of little subsection. Can I say that?
Dave Connolly: Subsection?
Matt Edmundson: The subsection?
Anna Kettle: Uh, you can say what you like, you've got the mic.
Matt Edmundson: That's true. Yeah. I can, although Dan's got the power because he can turn me off at any point. Um, and so yeah, so anyway, we've got this little subsection going on where we're going to start to look at, um, the community that Jesus sort of calls and brings together. And so tonight we're looking at the calling of the disciples.
Dave Connolly: We are.
Matt Edmundson: And what Jesus did there, what we can learn from it in today's world and for ourselves, for our own lives. We're going to get into all of that. So that's kind of where we are as we go through. If you have any questions, thoughts, write them in the comments, because after the talk, we all 3 of us, we kind of talk about the talk. We call it conversation stream, and we go through any questions that you've put in the comments that we can answer on the, on the live stream. We will do that. So yeah, we will quite happily do. Let me just go, in fact, to the comments. We've got Lady Burkeby. Hi, Lady Burkeby. Hi, Ade. Hi, Ellis. Alice says, sorry, I'm late. It's 2 minutes past.
Anna Kettle: He's not missed anything important yet, has he?
Dave Connolly: I mean, let's be honest.
Anna Kettle: You'll be forgiven. Basically just technical problems.
Matt Edmundson: It's not a problem. We've on the mobile, we've got Alicia. We've got Julie, Mrs. Connolly. So no pressure, but the wife's, the wife's watching.
Dave Connolly: It'll be good.
Anna Kettle: You've got to be on your best behaviour, Dave.
Matt Edmundson: So good evening, everybody that is in the comments. Sharon's in the comments as well, and obviously Crowd Church is in the comments. Roz is in the comments. Roz, good evening. Uh, it's great that you're all joining us from around the world, no doubt, uh, on this beautifully hot day here in the UK. But without further ado, um, we will hand over to Dave, who is, uh— I sent Dave a card on Father's Day. I've mentioned this before, haven't I, on the show? I always give you a card on Father's Day.
Dave Connolly: You do.
Matt Edmundson: Dave's like my spiritual dad, and so I'm all— I'm very grateful for this man who's an absolute legend. And gives a lot to crowd, don't you? And you're so into it. And, um, so always love to hear what Dave has to say. So let's, without further ado, hand over to Dave, and then Anna and I will be back with Dave for Conversation Street after this.
Dave Connolly: Cue Dave. Good evening, folks, and it's great to be here. I am on Father's Day, and just one thought on Father's Day. I was preaching on, um, Fatherhood: God's Design, um, this morning at a wonderful church called Open Well. And in preparing for that, I, I got this real revelation, and that was, you know, until we really grasp the fatherhood of God, there'll always be a part of us where we live like orphans.
Matt Edmundson: Oh, love that.
Dave Connolly: You know, and it was— and, and it is such a pain. I mean, you know, for me, I didn't have, you know, opposed to dad in my life. Um, probably did his best from his brokenness. Well, because of the ongoing going with the Holy Spirit in my life, I was able to help lead them to Jesus. I don't think you can do that unless you get a hold of a good design of fatherhood. And it is real, the pain and things, but that's not this evening's talk.
Matt Edmundson: That's all for free, is it?
Dave Connolly: Yeah, that's just a throwaway. Yeah, that's just a sidebar. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, buy myself some time. Yeah, I'm wanting to change the talk slightly. Same topic, but just our approach to it, you know. Um, we're talking about how Jesus starts to gather these guys, gather his community, and, um, but you know, this is a call that changes everything. Yeah, it changes everything for these guys. And, um, we're going to be— if you've got your Bibles, um We're going to be looking in the Gospel of Mark, and, um, we're going to look at chapter 1, verse 16 to 20, and we'll reference chapter 3, verse 13 to 19. And, um, I love the different writers and what they bring.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: Mark, there's always— when you read Mark's Gospel, there's a real urgency, and, um, that you don't pick up in the same way in the other gospels. So here in this story, and we're not talking about science fiction, but you know, we took the story, um, of this. Jesus is walking along the shoreline, okay, um, and it's the Sea of Galilee where he's walking, and he saw some ordinary fishermen going about their daily work, ordinary people doing a daily job. And we got Simon Peter, Andrew, James, and John, and they're mending their nets, they're doing fisherman stuff, and they're just probably expecting another hard day's toil. And Jesus spoke two life-changing words to them. He says, "Follow me." And that's Mark 1:17. The two words that jump out here— follow me— everything changes on what they do or do not do. And, um, you know, you— we just need to appreciate that at this time, um, the Jews were expecting a messiah. They probably weren't expecting him to come as in the form of Jesus, okay? Yeah, you know, according to— they're probably expecting some warrior or um, rebel type of thing. Mark's Gospel has got its own style in how he tries to communicate, um, to us the story of what is going on. And one word, um, that appears, um, a number of times, um, in this gospel is immediately or at once. Um, and it's like the writer is like, we God knows where your heart is, so you can respond to this, you know. And sometimes we forget that, you know, God goes before us.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: And he is speaking to us, he is preparing the way for us. And, um, those two— it's mainly in two places directly, and it's in verse 18 and verse 20. And it says, um, that those Men who become the 12, who become part of the disciples, it says they responded to Jesus immediately. And you know, there's sometimes in our lives when we hear something and we perceive it that this is true, this is of God, and we then start thinking, well, maybe I just need to think that through, otherwise I'm being reckless, And you know, I probably would err towards probably the reckless side, if you know me.
Anna Kettle: Mm-hmm.
Dave Connolly: But for me, when I know the truth, I don't really have to pray about it a whole lot. I'll pray, "God, strengthen me, give me the grace to do it." But you know, I want to encourage us to learn to know the voice of God, the prompting of God, the moving of the Holy Spirit, and act on it. And it says this, "They left their nets, their boats," Excuse me. And even the security of their family business to follow him. It meant them leaving something of cost behind. And, um, sometimes, you know, when I hear the gospel being preached, that is missing. And that concerns me greatly when I don't hear people talking about the cost of following Christ, because we can say that Jesus paid it all. He did. But in following, there's a daily sacrifice of walking after him and walking with him. You know, so it's not supposed to be dead easy. There is a cost involved, and I think that's wonderful. The response that you see from these men, it's not impulsive. It was a recognition that they recognized the authority of Christ Jesus. Amen. They recognized the authority of the Messiah. In the ancient world, you know, students would normally choose their rabbi, and like there's 3 stages mainly of education, but students would mainly choose their own rabbi. Here, something revolutionary happens.
Anna Kettle: Hey!
Dave Connolly: I had to get it in. Jesus rabbi, the rabbi chooses his students, and that's not just to be different. As you see the story between Jesus and the disciples, it is significantly different, so you need a significantly different call. What encourages us about this passage is that Jesus chooses ordinary people. He didn't begin with religious experts, political leaders, and celebrities. He chose ordinary people, and, you know, I think if I was at a message, I want to get into the world, and I had to pick a handful of men, I'm not sure I would have picked any of these, you know, because they were just ordinary, and they weren't great men of significance in one sense, But isn't that great for us, you know, that God still uses ordinary people? We have a God who takes ordinary people and uses them to do supernatural things, amazing things, extraordinary things. God always, it seems, to delight in using ordinary people because, you know, then the focus isn't on what these people can do. The focus is on what God has done. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 12— I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians 1:27— how God chose the foolish things, you know, to shame the wise. God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. It's just to keep the emphasis on God and not on man. Maybe, um, you might this evening, if you don't know the Lord Jesus, or maybe you're walking with God, but you feel unqualified. You might even feel overlooked or insignificant. The calling of the disciples clearly, clearly, clearly reminds us that Jesus sees far more than we see about ourselves. When we often in church will say, "God has got a plan," He has, and that plan starts and finishes with relationship, relationship with him. He sees our potential. I'm not a big lover of the word potential because we just seem to say the word and get stuck there rather than moving into it. God sees the call that he has placed on our lives. He sees how he can work in us and through us he sees his purposes being fulfilled through us. We are invited into, um, partnership. And these fishermen would have known about partnership because they would have been part of a larger community of partnership fishermen. Yeah. Um, Jesus didn't invite these guys just to accompany him. You know, as, um, somewhere in on the outer echelons. He invites them right into his life and he says, come, follow me. That meant walking with him, walking closely with him. And I don't really think, you know, in the 21st century we understand walking anymore. Um, I think I may have said before on Crowd Church, I am— when we were at Frontline many years ago, there's a picture. I used to see a guy Every week at a certain time, and we used to walk around the Mystery, which is a large park in Liverpool. And in this picture, it's snowing, and we didn't know this picture was being taken of us, but the snow's coming down and you can see this guy's talking, and I'm walking side on, and I'm just looking at his face, looking at his lips, you know, um, when people talk, we need to look at them so we've got their attention. And I was really interested in what he was saying. It wasn't just about me fixing him, and you get that with walking. You don't get that when you're just jumping in the car for a few minutes. I think it's just a completely different thing. Um, I want to— I'd encourage us to find a way of rediscovering walking with people and talking and sharing and listening 'Cause that's what Jesus invited those early disciples into. They were some of the key things. He says, "Come follow me and I will make you." Wasn't just come follow me and we'll have this great holy uddle. You know what, we can have a small group. It's gonna be great, Andrew. It's gonna be absolutely fantastic. Gonna get together every week, we'll do all these great things. We'll read our Bible, we'll eat, we might break bread together, and we'll sing some songs maybe. Um, but it wasn't just that. And he said, but I will make you— is the purpose— fishers of men. So he's talking to fishermen. So his illustration is about fish, which makes sense, doesn't it? It's not worth him talking about building or farming. He talks, you know, it's relevant. The illustration is relevant for them. And he's not just saying we'll go fishing, he's saying I will make you I will make you fishers of men. And I think, um, we need to understand that, that this gospel that we receive, and as we receive it, the understanding and part of the cost is that we will also share it. Excuse me. So whilst these disciples may be ordinary people, he has a plan for them. I will make you fishers of men. I will make you. It's not about your efforts, it's not about how how busy you can make yourself, he says, I will make you. What he's saying, I will empower you, and as I empower you, you— A disciple is all about modeling what you see in your rabbi as you walk with him. Transformation is in Christ's hand. He brings about transformation in us. The disciples didn't need to do it in their own strength. Their own power or in their own desire. They just needed to surrender their lives to Christ, to walk with him, to watch, to listen, to do what he did. And the same is true for us as we become followers of Christ. You know, um, we just need to walk. It's not about effort. You know, when we just try and make ourselves busy doing God things, I think if you've done it for any period of time, we just get tired. And we may think we have all the right motives, but I want to say to you, walk with him, and as you walk with Christ, you'll want to share the things of Christ with others in your life. You know, Jesus didn't do a quick, "Let's just do a quick interview on these guys, and let's see if you're bright enough, clever enough," Do you speak well enough? Are you going to upset everybody? Or are you going to woo them? Are you going to kill them? He doesn't. He calls them, because it's all about Jesus. He sees a hunger in them, and he calls them to himself. And they follow. They leave behind, and they follow him. And for some folks, We believe, but we don't leave behind. We have too much of our past in our presence that is not surrendered to God. Does that make sense? Mm-hmm. We have too much of our past in our presence. And, you know, um, obviously we can't just leave everything behind in one sense, you know, we have responsibilities, you know, but it can be surrendered to Christ. And we can bring Christ right into the center of it. Um, so, you know, um, it's not merely about believing in Jesus, it's about following, it's about living a life that demonstrates him. That's the whole thing about being part of a community. They contribute, they share, they have something, um, to contribute to a relationship is made up of, um, different parts, isn't it? Different people playing their role. And how amazing it is that we've got Peter, you know. I just think having Peter in any group is going to keep you on your toes. It's going to teach you grace. Oh, you know, and, and I thank God that Peter is in that group. It brings— gives me grace, hope, you know, for myself. Um, But he takes them as they are, and he tells them who they are in him. He says to them, "Come, follow me, be like me." And Jesus, as a rabbi, inputs them. He shares all that he has. They see all these different areas of Jesus's life, and they are part of it. And I love it. I think I've said it before. They see him when he's tired. What is Jesus' response to tiredness? Sleep. Yeah.
Anna Kettle: Come and si.
Dave Connolly: Do you see him when he's stressed? What is his thing? Come aside and pray. All these different responses they will have seen with Jesus, because Jesus models it to them, and Jesus' expectation is for them to do the same, to copy him. I just want to say something about these guys. You know, we People often say about Christians, 'Well, you were just a loser.' I don't have any problem identifying with that. Going nowhere, going there fast, you know. But Jesus came for the lost. Lost. If you can't identify that you were lost, even if you had everything or if you had nothing, well then it's very hard to encounter Christ. But you know, let me just tell you something about these guys. James and John, we're told, left behind a successful fishing business. They were successful in what they did. Their father had hired servants. They're part of a fishing, like, cooperative. They had real security. They had something to leave behind that was going to cost them. And there was no plan. There was no return plan, by the way. There was no return plan.
Anna Kettle: No.
Dave Connolly: You know what they did, and it's true for any of us today, is that they surrendered themselves. They put their trust in following Jesus. And that is true of us, whether we have much or whether we have little. The question for us today is, what are the nets? You know, it says that they put down the nets. Maybe the question for us today is, what are the nets that Jesus is asking you and I to leave behind? You know, when we hear the gospel message, lots of people, they say, "Oh, well, I would do if I was good enough," or whatever, you know, and they try and make themselves better, or they think about all the different situations, a marriage, a family, I know, a sickness, a disease, a whole host of things. I'll just work on those, and when I get them sorted, then I will follow. Well, you know, it's— we have— you had to hear the call to follow, and the appropriate response is that they responded immediately. So what are— maybe what are the nets that we have in our life? Maybe For some of us, perhaps it's fear.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: Perhaps it's pride. Perhaps it's comfort. Perhaps it's self-reliance. Okay, and those four things, we all encounter them in real life. Perhaps it's a distraction that has slowly taken place in our lives that hinder us from following God. Maybe you have encountered God in some measure, But you know, when we have unsurrendered areas in our lives, I'm telling you, it only goes one way, and that's not towards God. You know, I am— for the first 2 years I became a Christian, I have to say I experienced the goodness of God in my life. But there was one area in my life, um, that I hadn't surrendered to God. I wasn't struggling with it, but I knew it was there, and, and I knew I hadn't surrendered it. And after about 18 months or nearly 2 years, one day this thing just popped its head up and I knew it wasn't surrendered. And I turned my back on Christ, and for about 18 months I went off and I was in a worse place than what I was before. The reality is we need to not be perfect. Hear me, it's not about being perfect, it's about being surrendered. And maybe that's another talk. Mm. You know, um, don't allow distractions in your life to say, well, you can't follow Christ because of this, you've got this, you've got that. They heard the call and they put down their nets. Jesus continues to call people to radical discipleship. We're talking about this being Jesus the revolutionary. There's nothing ordinary about being a revolutionary. There's nothing ordinary about being a Christian. You know, to follow Christ, there is something about standing up You see it repeatedly in the New Testament, both standing up and speaking out. And yes, by all means, I totally agree with folks who say we make our lives count, we're salt and light. Absolutely, totally agree. But you can't leave out that we have to literally share verbally with people the love of God. How can we not tell people about if we fall in love, we tell everybody. I remember when I met Julie, um, Julie was really young when I met her, and, um, I remember, like, you know, I couldn't shut up. You know, you know when you fall in love, you just bore the pants off everybody else, don't you? Well, when you have children, everybody's seen your baby, or 450,000 photographs. They're happy with the first 5.
Matt Edmundson: Or the first one.
Dave Connolly: Or the first one. More tolerant than that, but, uh, you know what I mean? Um, Well, because we're passionate about it, aren't we? You know, and you can't hold yourself back by saying, 'I've got a new boyfriend or husband,' um, or whatever. And, and that's how we need to be about Christ, because he's impacted our lives so wonderfully.
Matt Edmundson: Yes.
Dave Connolly: You know, and Jesus continuing to radically call men and women to discipleship. And I don't mean people who are pastors, whatever that means, or missionaries, or church leaders, or this or that. I'm talking about ordinary men and women who Jesus loves, and he calls them into a living relationship so that they can be who God has called them, whether that's in the university or in the factory or wherever. Let me try and land this by saying all of us need to know what it is to respond when God speaks to us. Yeah. And if you're not yet a Christian, I want— I really want to say to you this evening, there's an invitation. Jesus gave an invitation, okay, to those early disciples, and that same invitation is true for you and I, and it is real today. And in the same ways that Jesus came and walked with those disciples. He longs to walk with you.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: He longs to draw near to you. It's not known about some distant, far-off God. The question is not whether Jesus is calling. The question is whether you're willing to respond. The church is built— is built on an unlikely foundation of ordinary people. It's about people. It's not about buildings. You know, wherever we are this evening, whatever you do, whatever your story may be, Jesus sees you.
Matt Edmundson: Mm.
Dave Connolly: And he loves you exactly where you are, going through exactly what you're going through. And he says, come, follow me.
Matt Edmundson: Mm. Wonderful. Thank you, chief.
Dave Connolly: Pleasure.
Matt Edmundson: I was— the reason I was smiling when you were saying that is someone wrote in the comments, I'm gonna get straight into it because I was looking at the comments earlier. Someone wrote in the comments, uh, God hates me, too much bad luck and too much stress. And so, and obviously you'd not seen these comments.
Dave Connolly: No.
Matt Edmundson: Um, while she was speaking, uh, too busy looking at your own notes, I feel. Um, but yeah, it's interesting how, how you sort of finished on that. Um, God hates me lately, too much bad luck and too much stress. What would you say to that?
Dave Connolly: First of all, God doesn't hate you, okay? God doesn't hate you. He sent his one and only Son to die for you, and that wasn't on condition. He came to seek and save the lost, not for those who he already had or those who already believe. You know, I want to tell you, when you— if you're thinking God hates you that has not come from God. You need to know that God loves you. He loves you so much. The scripture said that he sent his only son, yeah, to die in your place, in my place, to carry my sin, my brokenness. He loves you. Don't fall for that lie. That is a lie to keep you separated from God.
Matt Edmundson: So true, isn't it? And again, it comes back to the whole conversation you were talking about in terms of calling. Like, God chose this sort of ragtag bunch of people. So it's not based on performance.
Dave Connolly: No.
Matt Edmundson: It's not based on skill level. It's definitely not based on education level. Um, but there's still that calling, isn't there? And there's another comment actually that's come in a couple of times I want to just pick up. This idea that Jesus was a Greco-Roman myth. Um, and it's an interesting one, isn't it? Because yes, he was in— he's from ancient times, but I'd say it came more out of Jewish theology Graeco-Roman mythology. But I can see, um, to totally answer the question, uh, there was, after the resurrection of Christ, a crossover. So you could say that some of the Christian art started to use some of the pagan iconography. But the fascinating thing, the reason why I wanted to bring that up right at the start, again going back to your point, Dave, was if Jesus was a myth, which I've I fully don't think that he was. There's way too much evidence. But if Jesus was a myth, there's no way these guys would have followed him to their death, right? If it was all based on a lie, if it was all based on a myth, there's no way that Peter would have gone through and endured, or Paul would have gone through and endured what they went through. You, you wouldn't do that for a lie. And the fact that they endured that to me is actually quite a telling part of this story. And it all kind of kickstarts right here in these fishing boats. And, uh, and I love this imagery. I'll make you fishers of men.
Dave Connolly: But I'm sure as you guys have, you know, been, you know, growing up— I know, and you've grown up in and around church, you know, we, we hear people saying, well, Jesus is just a myth, he's just this Well, I have spent many hours, because, you know, I have to teach on some of these things. You know, the evidence for Jesus is overwhelming. Even people who don't believe in him would say, you know, there's more documentation that Jesus existed than Napoleon Bonaparte's.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: It's, you know, it's huge. But it's easy to get caught up on that, because I would have to say, if he's a myth, who is this that has totally transformed my life? Yeah, yeah. Who is this that is now living in my life?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, you know. No, it's a fair question. It is a fair question. So let's get into it. Calling thoughts and comments, Miss Anna.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, I just thought there was like so much in that, um, in that talk tonight, Dave. Thank you for it. I, I I loved, I love what you had to say about that kind of sense of urgency, like drop your nets, come and follow me. And it's not like a, in a couple of weeks when you've sorted a few things out, you've talked to the wife, you've got all your assets in place, you've kind of, you know, worked out all the logistics. It's like immediate. It's like just drop everything and come follow me. And, and they do it. That's the incredible thing. Like I think, wow, if Jesus was standing in front of some of us, would we just drop everything and come? Yeah. No, it's challenging, isn't it?
Dave Connolly: It is.
Anna Kettle: Just like that, drop everything you're doing. You know, they were fishermen. They weren't religious leaders, people of their time, were they? They had a profession. They had, you know, families to feed, you know, money to make on the fishing boats. And, you know, how— Yeah, how quick would we be to drop everything? I sometimes think, oh gosh.
Matt Edmundson: It's a really good point, isn't it?
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Because I— and I love the imagery of the net, right? So they let go of their nets. Their nets are symbolic, isn't it? That's their living, that's their livelihood. It's what they know. It's what they've done day in, day out. It's a security. It's like, this is how they do life. And so actually the call of Christ is to not necessarily abandon like you don't have to quit your job or any of that, but to actually go, no, I'm, I'm gonna follow you. I'm— everything that I know and think may still be true tomorrow, but I'm going to subject everything I know and think to your lead. Yeah.
Dave Connolly: Right? Yeah. So, and can I ask you a question? Yeah, I know you grew up in church. Like, for everybody, there's a moment, isn't there, when that wherever you are, you hear something that changes your thinking to bring you to a place of surrender or committal to Christ.
Anna Kettle: What was that?
Dave Connolly: What did— because they hear the call.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: What I'm asking is, what was that call like for you?
Anna Kettle: I suppose for me it was different to that, that moment that the disciples had because I'd grown up in church culture and going to church with my parents. Um, so I think for me it was coming of age really because being like a late teenager and sort of thinking for the first time, do I just go to church because my parents take me? Yeah. And told me I have to go every week, or do I go because I want to do it? And am I going to continue to go when I, you know, so when I was 18 and I left home to go to university and came up to Liverpool first time, suddenly it's like, no one's gonna make me go to church. What do I really think here? Do I really believe in God? And if so, why? And have I encountered him personally? And honestly, at that point, I don't know if I had, but certainly in that first year of going to university, and, you know, I didn't do a physical Alpha course, but I did read the book because I wanted to answer some of those questions, like, how can you be sure the, you know, Bible's true? Is Jesus really real? How can you know? Did the cross really— like, I wanted some of those answers. And I'd definitely encourage, just going off-piste here, but anybody who's got questions like that one about, is Jesus really real? And how can we know? Do the Alpha course. It's a few weeks of your life, and you've nothing to lose if Jesus isn't real.
Matt Edmundson: Absolutely, yeah.
Anna Kettle: But actually, it goes through a lot of that evidence in that case for Jesus. And for me, that was quite life-changing. But I also think, so some of it was that and getting my own understanding right. But actually, a lot of it was a heart change as well. And being like, actually, when I put this into practice, Jesus meeting me there in some, like, really practical, real ways. It's like, oh, and so I think for me it was a bit more of a process, but it was like choosing to go, okay, God, I— and I do remember thinking when I, when I first went to uni, okay, I don't know if this is real, but I'm gonna go all out with it and see.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: And if it works, it works, and if not, never mind, I'll, you know, sack it off. But I'm gonna, like, fully check it out before I've been at it. Yeah. And of course I never binned it because the more I looked into it, the more I was like convinced. And also the more I knew of God and tasted of God, the more— yeah, I couldn't look back. Yeah. And I never have.
Dave Connolly: Yeah. So yeah, it's great.
Matt Edmundson: This is a really good point. It's a really good point, isn't it? And it's that, that sense of, um, that sense of call, isn't it? Like what you said about purpose, the purpose, you know, I'm calling you, you're going to be fishers of men. So it's like I'm calling you to something. This is not a kind of, you know, a sort of a— we don't know what's—
Dave Connolly: It's not self-indulgence.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it's not. So that's a good point. It is really not self-indulgence. This is not about you all of a sudden. No, this is about impact. This is about, um, and actually being fishers of men. I— the language I would use is this is all about growing God's kingdom. This is all about the kingdom of heaven versus the kingdom of Matt. Yeah, right. Um, and so I, I think your purpose then becomes bigger than you are, and then this is what you end up giving your life to. Yeah, right. Um, did you— going back to your example, Anna, did you sense that purpose in those early days when you were doing the Alpha course and stuff? How did that come about?
Anna Kettle: Yeah, I think I did. Um, I think I sensed God's call. Um, I think even coming to Liverpool, it was quite— it's quite a long story, but just the way everything fell into place.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: And it wasn't really another option of university courses I could do, and it was just very clearly God. In the months that kind of preceded me going to university, like, all the— yeah, all the routes just led to one place very clearly. And so I did really feel God's hand in sort of, and his direction and his kind of leading to that, to that place. Um, I don't know if that answers the question, but I— yeah, I think it, it is a process. But it— yeah, there was definitely, there was a sense of call and God calling me to a certain place. And then I think once I was starting to experience God for myself and spend time in church and read my Bible more, and it became more personal and real to me. The overflowing is interesting that he talks about. I'll make you fishers of men, because responding to that call, it changed the way I saw the people around me. Like, I would look at the friends in my—
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: And just, yeah, other friends who were like students at the time, and they're very broken and very— yeah, just, I don't know. And my heart really broke for some of them because I, I was like Yeah, and it was like— and I— there was a sense of urgency, like, suddenly about this thing that God is doing in your life. You, you need to share this with other people. They need it too. They're broken. And, yeah, you know, I— yeah, it, it was, it was, um, yeah, it was very real at that time, I think. And it's been real other times as well. But I think there was that real sense of that calling. But there was also, you know, there is also a cost, isn't there? It's like you've— there's— and I love that you said that as well, Dave, because there is a cost. And I think often in Christianity we can, you know, we can be, we can be guilty in church, can't we, of absolutely preaching a weak gospel that's like, come to Jesus and he'll make you happier and yeah, give— prosper you. And there's a lot of prosperity gospel that's been out there. Absolutely. And, um, it's not the full story, and there's cost as well. And so I really love that you said that because it's a cost, but I've never found that it's not worth it.
Dave Connolly: That's right.
Anna Kettle: And that's the thing.
Dave Connolly: Well, and it's like, we're happy to pay a cost for something we feel is valuable or of value, you know. And, um, you know, what— what reason why I was asking you that, Anne, was that, you know, I was just thinking about, you know, when he's saying about, I'll make you fishes of men, um, you know, he's actually speaking to them in a language that they understood. And what he's doing, he's saying, so I am going to repurpose all the skills you have, all the things you have. I am going to use them, and I'm going to use them in— and I'm going to use a language so you understand. So we're not going to be— we're not going to go fishing for fish anymore.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: But we are going to go and fish. We are going to go and gather souls, lost souls, and you know, and you understand something about the toil that— I love this fisherman, the toil that's involved. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's not going up like with your rod. These nets are throwing, there's patience. They know, they, you know, they know the skills of fishing that are required. But although that the language he's talking to them, he's trying to reach them not because they are simple, but to speak a language that they understand.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: So He takes their skills and their time, and he completely repurposes them. And I think for us, you know, that just says, you know, wherever I am, with whoever I'm with, you know, whatever skills and talents I have, God will use that to draw people to him, if I am surrendered, if I have answered that call, as Anita was saying.
Matt Edmundson: That's a really important point, isn't it? It's like, Um, like when COVID hit, it was in my wheelhouse to go, well, let's just livestream the service. And this is, you know, the start of Crowd Church in many ways, wasn't it? It was just like it just all began. It's like God takes your talents and understandings and he uses them for his purposes and for his kingdom. And that's in effect what the calling is. You don't have to go out and learn a whole new skill set.
Dave Connolly: Absolutely right.
Matt Edmundson: It's not like you've got to go to a specific school to learn a specific thing. Maybe, I don't know, unless God leads you that way. But I think on the whole, um, I'm reminded of the parable of the talents where the, you know, the sort of the guys have 5 and 10 and 1, and it's like that it's all what you do with what you've been given, isn't it?
Anna Kettle: And how you do it. I love that bit that Dave talked about, um, I will make you.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: So I will make you fishers of men.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: And it's the God will do the work. God will make you. It's not, yeah, it's not a striving, it's a surrender. And I, I love that, and I thought it was such an important point because we can think, oh, I'm, you know, I so often hear people say, and we hear it a lot in Crowd Church, don't we, like, oh, I don't know if I'm ready to become a Christian yet, I'm not good enough, or I don't know if I can do it. And it's like, it's not you doing it. Yeah, it's God doing it in you. And that's the thing, like, we're never ready, aren't we?
Matt Edmundson: Absolutely.
Anna Kettle: You know, we've all being Christians around the table for a long, long time.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: And we're still not good enough, and we're still not ready in many ways, but God takes us anyway, and he, he makes us, and he transforms us, and he does it. And it's so—
Dave Connolly: it's not—
Anna Kettle: it's that surrender posture, not striving and effort and self-effort.
Matt Edmundson: And it's important.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: You find that the longer you're walking in your Christian faith, the more reliant on God's grace you become. It's an interesting question because I think you go one of two ways, don't you? Maybe every day it's different. Yeah. Um, one day you're kind of like, yeah, I really know, I'm, you know, it's God's grace, God's making me, God's doing it in me. But the next day it's like, right, let's go! I mean, it's all about sort of self—
Anna Kettle: yeah, I know what the right answer is.
Dave Connolly: Challenge accepted.
Matt Edmundson: Give us both.
Anna Kettle: I feel like, um, I feel like I am a natural lead. Like, I'm quite a doer. My natural lean is into self-effort and striving, and like, I can make stuff happen. I'm capable, I've got competencies, I lean into them. Yeah, I'll make this happen. Yeah. Um, but I think when I don't lean on God, I'm— I think what's happened over time is I've become much quicker at recognizing when I'm not. Yeah, when I'm not depending on God. Like, I used to let it not realized for a long time. And now I think the length of time, yeah, is shorter, and I think that's great. Yeah, yeah.
Dave Connolly: And God knows, yeah, doesn't he? You know, I mean, you're a very resourceful lady, and I think it's as we learn to be in— I love that word, love the word posture— in a place where we are daily, um, just position ourselves where our gifts and our talents are surrendered for him to use in whatever way he wants to. And, um, and I think it's learning. I said, we've been Christians a while, and I think we would all say, you know what it is to be busy, you know, and to try harder. All you get is tired.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: You know, that doesn't mean that you don't engage, please hear me, you know, because God wants to use us in the right sense. He doesn't want to misuse us. And Like when Anne was telling, um, doing a story about that, you know, she said, um, in a process that she was reading, you know, and that she was reading around the Alpha Course, but she was also reading scripture. Yeah. And, you know, somebody said to me, um, numerous times in the last couple of years, um, I've got some people say, what, how, you know, what, you know, what do we do? And, um, and I said to them this, and I don't think it's I don't think this is mine. I probably stole this from somebody else, but I believe it's true. And that is, I'd say stay in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the Gospels, for 2 years. Just read them and you'll get to know the character of Jesus. And that's the character he's trying to work into you and I.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: And the attitudes that go with that, you know, that takes great discipline.
Matt Edmundson: And we get disciple and discipline But it's interesting again, because coming back to this concept of grace, isn't it, that, you know, God makes me a fisherman and man, but at the same time there needs to be discipline. And it's not like I can just— it doesn't just come down and go, you know, easy whizzy, let's get busy. It's like there has— there's this partnership, isn't there? Yeah. Where it's, it's not, um, laziness on my part, but it's not self-effort. And that's a real interesting tightrope to walk.
Anna Kettle: But I loved what Dave said about, um, that, that with the disciples, it was walking and talking and eating and breaking bread with Jesus day by day by day.
Dave Connolly: Totally.
Anna Kettle: And that is what was transformational. And I think it's the same for us.
Dave Connolly: Yes.
Anna Kettle: Like, we, we walk with God, we talk to God, we break bread with God, we read the Bible. We do, we do these practices not out of obligation or because anyone says we have to.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: But because it's just part of that walking with Jesus day by day. And, you know, I love what you said about how it's like walking with him that was transformational. It wasn't, you know, there's something about it that's like that day by day. Yeah, kind of seeing how he does it, watching how he does it. And there's that, there's that verse, isn't there, about like learning and force rhythms of grace? I can't remember where it's from now, but—
Matt Edmundson: Oh, that's about Message translation.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, it is. But it talks about like like, look, watch me, learn from me, see how I do it, and you'll learn the unforced rhythms of grace. And I think, yeah, that, that is one of my favorite verses really, because I think you could spend your whole life, yeah, like, just learning more of that, like, watching how Jesus does it, learning from him, and learning those unforced rhythms of grace, which are the antidote to striving and self-effort and trying to do it for yourself.
Dave Connolly: And he never kicked anybody else for failing. No, you know, for me it wasn't. He saw them as they were. And I know somebody's probably thinking, oh, you know, I'm sure that's not right. It is right, because, you know, grace— there's sufficient grace for us to fail. Yeah. And he still loves us in our following. You know, when he said something about being fishers of men, just harken back to that a little bit. You know, he spoke to him about something dang new. He's a carpenter, so he ain't going to teach them a whole lot about being fishermen, you know. So when he's talking to them about fishing, they're like, we're talking about hard work here, we're talking about toil and sweat, and then we're talking about the fellowship.
Matt Edmundson: We—
Dave Connolly: yeah, of going out together even when we don't want to. Yeah, and toiling together and seeing us on our best days, on our worst days. And that's why, you know, Family is important, you know, church family, you know, that is part of the discipleship model as well, that we, we are not in competition with each other. So true, you know, that we walk together and we celebrate. Because those first people Jesus called, I'm like, man, I would have loved to have been there to see how they worked that out. Yeah, they work out several times. You said grace, it's unmerited, you know, it can't be earned, it's just there for us to draw on.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's so true.
Anna Kettle: I just found that— I just found that verse because I love it. So, um, it's like, are you tired? Yeah. Worn out? Burnt out on religion? Come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or unfitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly.
Dave Connolly: Yeah. Where's that? And That's—
Anna Kettle: oh, I've just closed it.
Matt Edmundson: Sorry.
Anna Kettle: It's on a phone.
Dave Connolly: It's in a message.
Anna Kettle: On my phone, yeah.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, yeah.
Anna Kettle: No, it's the message version, but it's Matthew 11.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: I'm sure somebody else needs to hear that again. Can you say it again?
Anna Kettle: Matthew 11:28-30 is, "Are you tired, worn out, burnt out on religion? Come to me, get away with me, and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me." Watch how I do it. Learn the enforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live free and light.
Dave Connolly: Why would we not wanna walk with him? Why would we not? Why would we not, hey?
Anna Kettle: Yeah, yeah.
Dave Connolly: That's it.
Anna Kettle: Hear that.
Dave Connolly: That is just wonderful. Wonderful.
Matt Edmundson: But I think it's important to understand, again, going back to the point you mentioned earlier, my yoke is easy. That means you have to take the yoke still. Yeah.
Anna Kettle: Right?
Matt Edmundson: My burden is light, but there is a burden. Yeah, absolutely. This is not like problem-free life. There's a fight, there's a, you know, you can't let things rob you, um, of those things. Like a yoke, we don't use this language anymore, but that's what you pull around a cattle as it walks down the field and pulls it out, right? That's what it is. And so we've got a, you know, there's some tension there, there's some resistance that we have to push against.
Dave Connolly: But it's only a rope if you start pulling in the wrong direction. Walk against it.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dave Connolly: You know, pull against it. You know, pull against the older, wiser, bigger ox.
Matt Edmundson: I just think it's such good, good imagery. You know, this sort of my yoke is easy, my burden is light.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: It's just such a good imagery of the call of God, isn't it?
Dave Connolly: It's true.
Matt Edmundson: Yes, we're gonna walk. Yes, we're gonna plow. Yes, there's gonna be some resistance, but try a different way, you've still got resistance, you've still got a problem. And guess what? That's going to be a lot harder. Yeah, right. And so, and I think the amount of times I hear people— I think I've heard you say, and actually, you know, some of the stuff that you guys have gone through, or going through that without God.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. Yeah, it'll be harder than with God. Yeah, exactly. And I think you can say that about most difficult things in life. Like, yeah, life, life can be really hard and really unfair at times. But it's rare that it's going to be any easier without God. Like, I can't think of an example in my life where I think, 'If only I'd gone through that without God, it would have been so much easier.' Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not one.
Matt Edmundson: One of the interesting things, coming back to this then, is with the disciples. So they drop their nets, they become fishers of men, but when they are unsure about Jesus You know, he's been arrested, he's been crucified, when the whole world has gone into meltdown. That's what they return back to, and that's what intrigues me. And in fact, um, that's what he knew they were.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, yeah, sorry, it is, it is, it is. That's what he knew they would go back to, the old— yeah, source.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, there is that temp— there is that pull, isn't there? I think when, when life is not clear, when you're not really understanding what's going on, there's that pull to go back to how things were, um, especially, you know, if you, if you weren't always a Christian, to be pulled back into— like, for me, I suppose, for example, I've, I pulled back into maybe the way that I would talk, the way that I would think, the way that I would react to things. There is that temptation to go back to saying— you have to remind yourself, that's what I let go of.
Anna Kettle: Yes.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, I think the, you know, you, you bring that point up, it's really interesting because, like, Jesus, like, yeah, he knows where they're going to go back to.
Anna Kettle: Mm-hmm.
Dave Connolly: You know, but they had to come, what Jesus said happened, and they had to come back to what Jesus has said. The plan wasn't changing, and it was good for them, but they were dealing with very human things, a sense of loss, that they thought they'd lost the one they loved so much, the one they'd given everything up for. And this is where the grace again comes in. So he doesn't come with a rebuke, you know, comes back to them and loves on them and says, okay, we're going back again. Yeah, you know.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. And I also loved, um, what you said, Dave, about, um, how they all had their parts to play. So like, it's interesting, isn't it, that Jesus calls 12, 12 blokes, not just like 1 or 2 or 3. He didn't need 12, but it's like, it's almost like right from the start it's baked in there.
Dave Connolly: Yeah, yeah.
Anna Kettle: That this, this walking with Jesus is not a solo sport. You do it in group and in relationship with others, and that like one of you might be good at one thing and, you know, someone else around the table, metaphorically speaking or physically, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, it's going to be good at something else. And it's like you all bring your different bits and you don't have to have it all perfect or be good at everything. You just bring, you bring what you've got to that community. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Dave Connolly: I think it's, um, I think sometimes we think everything's got to be perfect and God isn't in it if there's any um, difficulty, any measure of difficulty. Well, you know, God can't be in this thing. Like, this is, this is our learning moment. This is our trust moment, you know. And, um, I think we use the word disciple so much, and yet we think if we're going to be a disciple, certain discipleship things are required.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah.
Dave Connolly: And that is, you know, a trust in God, a trust in God's word. When all these different things are happening in our lives— but not to live in the now. We don't need to live in the now. We just need to submit them to Christ. And they are horrendous. We've all been through horrendous things, very different things. And like, you know, when I was nursing, you know, part of my job was to talk to families and say like, you know, your baby isn't gonna make this. And I don't know, I've said it far too many times. And, you know, and end-of-life care for children. —and I'm like, you know, I felt it was a privilege to be able, you know, to be there. I felt God had put me there. And I'm like, I don't know how you walk through—
Matt Edmundson: That. Yeah.
Dave Connolly: —loss and grief without Christ. I know lots of people do, hear me. You know, I'm just saying, for me, I don't know how people do, because he's there. And he's left us the Holy Spirit, whose name—one of his names is the Comforter. Yeah, and we, you know, so I, I don't— I really don't know how people get by. I'm just feeling so thankful that we have Christ with us.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, totally, totally. And I think just to sort of square the circle or circle the square, whatever the phrase is, um, to bring that full round, I think what are the talents that you have that God's calling you to use on his behalf? What's the language that God's using I love in the comments, Alicia put that Jesus is a carpenter. He's used to taking big clumps of wood and turning them into something quite useful.
Dave Connolly: I love your comments. Your comments are absolutely fantastic.
Anna Kettle: So true.
Matt Edmundson: I love them.
Dave Connolly: It's true.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I'm a big clump of wood. Anyway, it was interesting, again, going back to the story. They were fishermen. They returned to fishing when they didn't understand things. But the redemption in that story is Jesus barbecued fish with them on the beach. And I'm like, I would love to have some of that fish, right? One day.
Dave Connolly: I'm happy to be on the beach. I'll be on the beach with you, Jesus.
Matt Edmundson: Let me just also give a shout out. So I'm just going through the comments here. I'm sorry if I butcher your name, Bukirwa from, where did you say you were from? From Uganda. Uh, so welcome to the live stream, man. Good to have you. Good to be here. Um, and yeah, he's put in the comments, Matthew 11:28 is indeed the verse, so comforting. She— sorry, she— uh, thank you for correcting me, Daniel. Uh, that is the verse, so comforting.
Anna Kettle: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Um, and so yeah, some great comments tonight. Um, Alice put in the comments, uh, she's thinking of Elisha immediately stopping what he was doing, offering a sacrifice and saying goodbye to his family to follow Elijah. Yeah, it's really— that's another great story. It is. If you're not familiar with it, it's definitely in the— go check it out in the Old Testament about what happens when Elijah calls Elisha to walk with him in this sort of discipleship, uh, culture type thing. Um, but yeah, great conversation. Thank you so much for your comments. Thanks, guys. Love that. Time has just flown by.
Dave Connolly: It has?
Matt Edmundson: It just felt like we started and now we're finishing. So thank you for joining us. We are gonna go over to Live Lounge. If you don't know what Live Lounge is, this is where we go onto Google Meet. So if you're online and you want to come and chat with us, Dave will be in there, I'll be in there, Anna will be in there. Come chat with us in the Google Meet. The link is in the comments, Daniel, is it not? It is. He's giving me a thumbs up. Obviously, God wants to talk to me. Just get on with it. So yeah, just follow that link, go.crowd.church/meet. And you can come say how's it to us. We'll only be in there like 5 or 10 minutes. It's not a big long thing. But it's just always nice to meet people after the service. Next week. I think it's me. It's me, isn't it? Speaking next week and baby, you're hosting, right? And Will's hosting. So talking about what it means to be the salt of the earth. So, uh, yeah, when I figured that out, I'll let you know. Um, so we're going to be talking about that next week. Um, but yeah, anything else, uh, from you guys in closing? I'll start with you.
Anna Kettle: Um, no, I just want to give another plug to the Alpha Course. So, you know, if anything that we've said tonight connects, you know, go check it out. There's, you know, we do them through Crowd Church, or if you can't wait for that one, there's hundreds of other ones across the country.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Anna Kettle: Both in local churches and online, or just grab the book like I did. Just start digging deeper.
Matt Edmundson: Yep, and if you want to know more about that, go to crowd.church/alpha. You'll find a whole bunch of stuff there. So yeah, that's there. Anything else from you, G?
Dave Connolly: If you don't know Jesus today, if you haven't come to a place where you've never surrendered your life to him, forget the terminology. You know whether you have or not. I want to ask you this question. What is it that hinders you from being able to say, Jesus, if you're real, reveal yourself to me in whatever way— you're God, you can do anything— reveal yourself to me. And just open up your heart and your mind.
Matt Edmundson: Yep.
Dave Connolly: And he will speak, because the invitation today to you is as real as what it was to those disciples.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah. Very good. Come follow me. It's a worthwhile thing to do. It really is.
Dave Connolly: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: And my plea will be, give it as much gusto as you can when you follow him. Don't be that complaining kid in the back.
Dave Connolly: Hmm.
Matt Edmundson: Right? Don't be that person. Follow him with everything you've got, because it's very much a worthwhile journey.
Anna Kettle: Yes.
Matt Edmundson: And a great calling. So yeah, hopefully you got something out of this tonight as well. If you're a Christ follower already, just like God, What is it you want me to do? Where do you want me to go? What's the plan? Who are the fishes of men that you want me to think about here? What talents has he given you that you could use for the kingdom of God? All those kind of things, always good to think about. Maybe there's a course correction. Maybe you are on the course already and God's just going to reaffirm that to you. Whatever it is, it's always good to know you're in the will of God doing what God wants you to do. Um, and so I encourage you to spend that time. But thank you so much for joining us this week. We will see you next week. If we don't see you Live Lounge, which we're going to in about 30 seconds' time. Um, we will see you next week. But that's it from Anna, that's it from Dave, and from myself. Thank you so much for joining us. Have a phenomenal week wherever you are in the world. God bless you. We'll see you next time. Bye for now. Bye.
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