Thrive In Adversity - Acts 4:1-22

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

• The talk explores the story of the apostles facing adversity in Acts 4:1-22, emphasizing the importance of thriving amidst challenges.

• The central point is developing and exercising faith, courage, and reliance on the Holy Spirit to overcome obstacles and grow in our Christian walk.

• The talk shares personal stories and examples of people who faced adversity with courage and faith, including examples from the Democratic Republic of Congo and the James’ own life.

• The message is one of hope and resilience, inspiring us to trust in God, listen to His guidance, and lean on the Holy Spirit to navigate through life's challenges.

• The talk concludes with a reflection on James 1:2-4, highlighting the value of trials in building perseverance, maturity, and a character that is not lacking in anything.

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💬 CONVERSATION STREET --

Matt + Dan discuss:

• What made the religious leaders look at Peter and John and realize that they’d been with Jesus?

• Would people know I’m a Christian just by the way I live?

• Can you be a Christian and a politician?

• How have you experienced God's presence and guidance during a challenging situation in your life? Can you share your personal story of overcoming adversity with God's help?

• Is every challenging situation adversity designed to help us grow or improve?

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• Complete Transcript

  James: So today we are looking at the Book of Acts and thriving in the face of adversity. I just love the book of Acts. It's so full of stories and narrative and adventures and people. Um, but more than that it shows how the early church, um, thrived and grew and spread the word of the gospel. Um, it's an incredible book.

  So we're gonna pick up today, um, in Acts four. So before I reflect, and let's just read the text again. I think it's really important to read, um, the word of God. Um, so let's do that first and then we'll see what we can, um, draw out to it. So Acts four, verses 1 to 22. It says, the priests and the captain of the Temple Guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.

  They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. They seized Peter and John and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. But many who heard the message believed and the number of men grew to about 5,000.

  The next day, the rulers, elders, and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and the other men of the high priest's family. They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and elders of the people.

  If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this you and all the people of Israel, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.

  Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which me must be saved. When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus, but since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.

  So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. What are we gonna do with these men? They asked. Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle and we cannot deny it. But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name.

  Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourselves, whether it's right in God's sight to obey you rather than God for we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats, they let them go.

  They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what happened. For the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. What an incredible passage of text. So we, we kind of pick up from Jesus being taken into heaven, that the Holy Spirit comes on disciples at Pentecost, and then Peter starts speaking to the crowds and he heals this disabled man by the court gate.

  So it is been noticed by everybody. And the way that the, um, religious elite decide to react is to throw them into jail and then bring them before the, the Sanhedrin, the religious elite and say, by what power did you do this? I mean, that is effectively creating the perfect opportunity to share the gospel and to share their hope in Jesus.

  And at the end of it all, they're free to go. They can't hold them back cuz the disciples say. Will we either obey you or we obey God? Which would you rather us do? So let's examine a few key points from the text. The first thing that stood out to me was that they were filled with the Holy Spirit. it, it says it in, in verse eight.

  It says, Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, and he goes on to speak. And that is really key for me, is that we can put up a great, um, argument. We can have really good, um, you know, points and uh, educated views, but effectively we as Christians are filled with the Holy Spirit and here. . Peter isn't just giving a an evidence based account.

  He's, he's saying the words that he feels the Holy Spirit is giving him to say, God gives us a Holy Spirit as a helper. It talks in John 14. It says, the Father will send the Holy Spirit to teach you all things. It's, it's, it's something we can feel, something we can be equipped with, something that will enable us to speak.

  And in this account Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit to speak the word of God, uh, in front of these people and to, to share the gospel with them. And today we can pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us. It might be with, with peace, or to reveal things to us or to give us the words to say, or the strength to get through situations.

  I love this quote by Charles Stanley that says, earthly wisdom is doing what comes naturally. Godly wisdom it's doing what the Holy Spirit compels us to do. Earthly wisdom is doing what comes naturally. Godly wisdom is doing what the Holy Spirit compels us to do. The Holy Spirit gives us wisdom.

  The Holy Spirit empowers us. The Holy Spirit equips us to more than just earthly beings. I had to go to court, um, last week, not for me. Don't worry. I was to accompany one of our tenants, as there've been a dispute over his housing benefit claim. And we had to, um, effectively argue our case as to why we felt the payment should have been made, um, by the council.

  Um, they decided not to pay it. and it, it was, it was quite overwhelming that they sent 14, 15 pages worth of evidence as to why they felt, um, the payment didn't need to be made. And I had to kind of bring a counter argument. Um, and I spent a good hour or so going through all the dates and all the evidence and, uh, presenting my argument and thinking how I would present it, um, to the judge in the court.

  And, and then I stopped and had some Prayer time, um, with some of the team in the church. And um, and I just really felt strongly to say, Um, effectively we didn't have an argument, um, and that we were just a small charity. Um, and we made a mistake on a, on a, um, a bit of paperwork and, and that was all, you know, I didn't have, um, a great case to argue and I just felt that was the right thing to do.

  And I knew we had a very small chance of getting any money. So I went to the court and sat with our, uh, one of our tenants and the judge, um, you know, told us all the evidence and asked for our, um, our counter-argument. And I effectively gave my very small counter-argument that I felt, uh, I should do. And, um, And I have to say, I felt quite confident that maybe he would just listen to me and take sympathy.

  Um, well he didn't, he was very condescending, a little bit rude, and effectively said that the case wouldn't be overturned and we were free to leave. And I felt really disappointed cuz I felt, oh, God had given me this strategy that, you know, a little bit like David and Goliath with his little stone that was gonna bring this giant down with these simple words.

  And we didn't, we lost the, the case effectively and didn't get any of the money that we thought we were due. But on reflection, um, it wasn't about winning the case. It's doing what I felt the Holy Spirit called me to do. And it could have been that if I'd argued in a different way, there would've been, um, a bit more fallout, you know, a bit more backlash.

  Um, but I did what I felt God asked me to do, which was just to be honest, to be open and. And not to get stressed out presenting a big argument. There was no massive Holy Spirit intervention. I just really felt that was the right thing to do, even if it didn't lead to a good outcome for us at the time. Um, so that's, that's the first point. The disciples had the Holy Spirit.

  The second thing that I really noted in the texts that the disciples had faith, they were full of faith. It says in verse 12. Let me just read out again. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. They're confident in that salvation.

  They're not. They're not fearful of the response of men, even though they're brought before the people who could, you know, decide their fate. They have faith in the Lord Jesus, and they are confident in that faith, in that salvation. And even they're thrown into jail, you think this isn't gonna work out. Um, and we see this throughout Acts, you know, multiple times people are thrown to jail and yet God restores and God, um, brings about restoration in that situation.

  But it says here, when they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized they were unschooled, ordinary men, they took note that these men had been with Jesus. I love that. I love the fact that they knew that these guys were not. You know, the most, um, the, the kind of, the strongest, the most likely to be picked.

  Um, they weren't warriors. They were unschooled, ordinary men. Um, I can certainly resonate with that. I often feel like an unschooled, ordinary man at times. Um, but the only qualification that we need is faith. God can use us with the smallest amount of faith, and that's what he did with Peter and John in this situation.

  He used them. He used their faith, he used that simple, um, mustard seed of faith to change a situation. We're not qualified by our skills, our experience, our competencies. We're qualified by our faith. And they even quote the Old Testament, which is something these religious elites would've been familiar with, quoting scriptures.

  The Stone you builders rejected, has become the capstone. They knew that they put Jesus to death, and Peter and John are saying this, this stone, this, this, um, This man of God that you've rejected is actually the Messiah, the one that you've been waiting for for thousands of years. I lead a charity and one of our values is being faith motivated, which is very easy to put on your wall with, you know, uh, kind of infographics and all that kind of stuff.

  Um, but it can to be really hard to live out in practice and you have to think about, we have to be quite, um, aware of how we make our decisions based on faith as a charity, not just as individuals, but as a charity. As an organization, what are we gonna do when we set our budgets and we create a faith margin?

  How are we gonna employ staff and manage volunteers based on faith? How are we gonna make key decisions around partnerships and strategy and vision based on our faith? And we had a challenge last month, which isn't unusual. We have a lot of challenges, especially with rising living costs and everything that's going on around us.

  You know, it's a challenging world, challenging environment, um, to run an organization. But last month we had, um, a challenge that came to us and I'm normally very active. I like to respond quickly to things. Um, I don't like to to to wait too long, uh, like to get my hands dirty, get stuck in. And we had a challenge that came to us and um, I really felt God say just to wait.

  Um, and this is a situation that required, you know, some action at some point, but I really felt God saying just to wait to listen, um, to, to, to not respond straight away and just to wait. Um, and two weeks went by. Now, two weeks to me feels like an age when there's a decision to be made and an action, uh, that needs to happen.

  Um, but we, we really felt strongly it was, it was, uh, the right thing to do, just to wait to hold fire, um, which we did. And then last week, uh, completely outta the blue, um, a bit of a solution came out of nowhere really. Um, and it, and it just blew me away really to, to realize that we are so quick to do things in our own strength, and often that's not what God's saying.

  Often God is saying to, to listen to him, um, to have faith, um, and sometimes to hold out. Sometimes you need to wait, sometimes you need to listen. Um, and this solution, we wouldn't have noticed it if we'd been busy, uh, responding in our own strength. Um, so it's not fully worked out yet, but I'm, I'm trusting in God for the full outcome and we're waiting to see what happens and I trust that God will, will, um, see it through.

  Um, but it made me think that faith is like a muscle, isn't it? It needs exercise. Um, I don't go to the gym half as much as I need to, but I know that to, to build your muscles, you have to exercise and you have to do reps, you have to, you know, do, um, wherever else you do in the gym. I don't know. Um, but faith is a muscle.

  So we need to exercise and we need to use it regularly to put it to the test. Um, we need to give God space to move in our lives and our situations, um, and put that, that muscle to the, to the test and strengthen it. And the final thing I wanna reflect on the disciples had here is that they had courage.

  Um, they were full of it. Verse 20, let me just read it out again. It says, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. And that's a response being told, basically, don't talk about this anymore. And they said, we can't help it. We can't help it. Our lives have been changed forever. We can't be silent in the face of adversity.

  We must speak up. So they had courage. Um, once this good news has changed their life, it's hard not to share it. They were courageous in what they did, um, and effectively that their, their actions led to the Christian faith spreading throughout the Roman Empire and, you know, elsewhere into the world. Not bad for a bunch of fishermen.

  Hey, a bunch of unschooled, ordinary men. But when you have courage, you can change things. You can change situations. Um, my friend Brian, who, um, he passed away last month, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in, um, August, 2022. Um, and he knew it would be terminal and he decided not to take, um, kind of invasive treatment and just to let it run its course.

  And he was at peace with where he was going and, and walking with him for a few months, um, before he died was an absolute privilege. But also one that challenged me massively because all he wanted to do with his, you know, final months, um, was to read the word of God and to share it with other people. So he would spend days reading scripture, writing it out for as long as he could, and then he would write notes to all his friends, um, telling them about his faith and telling them about the hope he had in Jesus and how confident he was of where he was going.

  He had courage in the face of adversity. He knew the death was coming, but he wasn't afraid of it. Um, he wasn't fearful. He decided to use the months he had left on this earth to share his hope in Jesus. And it just blew me away. Um, at his funeral, many people said, we don't go to church, but if we did, this is the kind of church we wanna be part of.

  Where they could see people serving, um, you know, living their community, living as, you know, believers together. Uh, and it was a really powerful time and it just really lifted my soul, um, that he had courage in that situation. Um, to, to reach out to his friends. Um, we also work in the, the Democratic Republic of Congo, um, and we've got a friend there, pastor Alexander, um, who, uh, effectively was, he felt called out of a career in banking to lead a church, to be a pastor.

  Um, and that was not an easy call at all. He had a, he had a, well, you know, well paid job, um, family to cater for. He's got eight children. I know eight children. Um, I've got three, and that feels like a handful. Um, but he has had to travel in, um, rebel held areas. He's had, he's been held at knife point. He's been threatened.

  Um, the roads are terrible. You know, he's had to travel long distances on really bad transport just to get to places. Um, but he's full of courage. He, he doesn't see that as a challenge. He just sees that as, uh, a mere obstacle to get around. And by doing that, he's now planted 14 churches, led hundreds of people into relationship with Jesus, um, and, and effectively, you know, expanded the kingdom across the Congo and given hope and faith to many people.

  But he had courage to do that. So the disciples had the Holy Spirit. The disciples had faith and the disciples had courage. Now, I dunno where you are today and what situations you're facing, but I can encourage you from this text that God is with you. God is walking with you in it. And maybe all you have to do is to take some time to listen and hear what God might be saying.

  I'm gonna just read, um, some verses in the book of James, um, to finish, to give us some, some perspective. Um, it says consider it pure joy my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kind, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

  That's James one verses two to four. And I love the fact that talks about the testing, the trials, actually building perseverance, building character, building maturity. You know, we all want to be mature, don't we? And, and, and sometimes we need the, the hard times to get us to that point, to understand different perspectives, um, and to have wisdom, experience to get alongside others who might be going through the same thing.

  But the last bit says not lacking anything. So by going through these challenges, these tribulations, um, these trials, it means that we have a, a spirit, a maturity. A character that is not lacking anything. So I pray that will be true for you today, that whatever you're going through, that God is building you up, building your character, strengthening your results, that you will not be lacking in anything because God may be at work in ways that you cannot see.

  Matt: Coming up. We have Conversation street, but before we get into that, here's a clip from our podcast what's the story which you can subscribe to on all your favorite podcast apps.

  Caesar: They had nothing, Matt, like, no things. You know the word, nothing. Nothing. Like literally the clothes on their backs. If they had clothes. And I'm not joking to people, we were, you know, within Sudan during the war, Sierra Leone, during the Civil War there, um, the church was beautiful and they were so full of joy man, and they were like being persecuted and they were star, their babies were starving.

  No joke, I'm not, you know, and yet they were so full of joy and, and as I would go there, and I'd come home and I'd go there and I'd come home. I remember praying, dear God, you know, I, I want to have what they have. I'd give anything for their joy and relationship with you.

  Matt: So welcome back to Crowd Church, uh, if you joined us while the talk was going on. My name is Matt. Beside me is the beautiful man known as Dan Orange. Um, and yes, we are your co-hosts for the rest of the livestream. We're gonna get into Conversation Street, uh, your questions, your thoughts, your comments from James' talk.

  We're gonna talk about all of that. So if you haven't written your comments down yet, then just get in there and do it in the comments. We'd love to see it. Uh, just put it in in the old YouTube comments there, so, so I, I'm gonna do my impression of James Sloan.

  He's just so cool. He, he was super casual just.

  Dan: And everything banging around.

  Matt: Oh yeah. With the, they were having the roof done at the time James recorded that. It took me a while to realize that, cuz I was, I've got him in headphones here and I'm listening to the talk, what's going on? Oh yeah, it's on the video.

  Dan: I thought it was you. I thought it was you doing stuff back there. Cause I thought when the talk's on, I can hear Matt. I thought what's he doing?Cleaning the office?

  Matt: That's exactly what it was here. So, um, so yeah, so, uh, he is having the roof done. So if it was, if took you a little while, like me to figure it out, then that's what it was.

  So, yeah, so James' talk based on that scripture in Acts that I, I just love where, they call, they call the guys aside and they said, listen, dudes, just stop talking in the name of Jesus. In other words, stop talking about Jesus. Stop healing people. Stop. What's wrong with you? Don't do that. It's causing us, it is causing us problems.

  Can you please not talk about your faith? And they're like, well, no.

  Dan: Who should we listen to? Yes. The one who rose from the dead and has just raised this man who 40 years has been sat outside all you guys. Oh, well, yeah. Listen to listen to Jesus.

  Matt: Yeah. Yeah. We're not gonna listen to you. It's really interesting, isn't it? And this for me, I mean, people talk about, slight tangent here, Dan, but people talk a lot about evidence for the resurrection.

  and one of the things that points it points to the resurrection for me is this conversation, and I'll tell you why. A few weeks ago, or a few weeks before this event, Peter was chopping off people's ears, uh, with swords, Do you know what I mean? And he was sort of, he abandoned his faith in, in some respects.

  He denied Christ three times because it was all going very, very wrong. It was all not happening how it should have happened. He was chopping people's ears off. He was. He was, he was then denying Christ because Jesus was seemingly doing something that the Messiah should not be doing. He was getting, you know, crucified.

  And so it's all going very wrong for him, yet just a few weeks later, the. He's actually standing up to the whole, whole what bought this transformation is miraculous. And you know, John talked about that last week. Um, John Farrington, if you're not heard it, check it out. Great talk. Uh, but this transformation of Peter was absolutely extraordinary.

  Um, and. The fact that he's willing to go, yeah, I know what you said, but No, I'm not gonna do that cuz Jesus is rose from the dead. Sorry guys. But you know, until you can match that, I know what side I'm gonna talk and it's just, it's remarkable, the whole transformation and so, um, yeah, it's very, very good.

  Very good. So what'd you think of James' talk there?

  Dan: Well, I just thought I'd say on that point, there's a, a song I've been listeneing to, which I really like by Bethel Church and it's too good to not believe. Mm-hmm. . And that's the whole, um, sort of essence of the song that so many things are happening. You know, we're seeing people healed, seeing people changed, it's too good.

  It's just too good to not believe this. And that's what they were, that's what they were in, weren't they? Yeah. This happening. And, and the people around them were like, well, this is too good to not believe. It's there. The evidence is there. Mm-hmm. Yeah.

  Matt: Yeah.

  Dan: I really like that. Yeah, I really like that talk. It's given a lot to, um, a lot to talk about. Um,

  Matt: yeah. A lot to digest.

  Dan: Yeah. And lots of little, little bits just, um, the, the, the one line that said these men had been with Jesus. Mm-hmm. And it was, you know, it was evident. Evident that that had rubbed us. The, you know, on them that they couldn't, people couldn't get away from the fact that they'd been affected.

  Like you said, you know, evidence of the, the resurrection had been affected. Yeah. By, by this man, Jesus. Yeah.

  Matt: Yeah. It's interesting, isn't it? How do you, how do you measure that? Right. How do you, how do I know that Jesus has, has in a how, I guess the question for me is like, they, they saw that they, they perceived that these men had been with Jesus.

  Right. How did they, what was it that m that made them come to this conclusion? Do you know what I mean? What, what, what led? Was it the fact that they pulled this guy up from the dead? Was it the way that they would confident? Was it the way they'd been transformed? Was it the way that they were speaking?

  Was it the way that they were just joyful? Was it the way that, what was it that made the religious leaders at the time go, oh yeah, we, we can see that you, you've been with Jesus. Um, and I suppose that's a, for me, that's a fascinating question because the, the very next question in my head is, would people know that I'm a Christian just by the way that I act, breathe, live, and talk?

  It's very challenging, isn't it?

  Dan: Yeah, it is. Yeah, it is and I think it comes down to, um, this whole thing about adversity. Adversity, doesn't it? If we're, we're just living our lives and nothing around us is changing, no one's asking those questions. Mm-hmm. Um, which is challenging me as well as I'm hoping it's challenging others is what are, what are we doing?

  Is it affecting our lives? We talked a little bit just before this started, didn't we? About, um, those elections up in Scotland, Scotland coming up soon. Um, one of the main sort of contenders is a Christian, and she's stated that fact, and she has had a lot of, um, backlash because she said she's a Christian, it is very much affecting her life and what she stands for and it, yeah. She can't be hidden anymore, you know? Mm-hmm. . Um, and it's, uh, yeah, it's a big thing.

  Matt: It is. It's a massive one. Cause Yeah, you say, I mean, we were talking about that there's a guy called Hamza Yousaf, who's the primary favorite to be leader of the SNP party. So just to, if you're outside of the uk, if you're outside of Scotland, uh, the SNP is the Scottish National Party.

  They, their incumbent leader has stepped down Nicholas Sturgeon. And so there is now an election for a new leader. They are the governing party of Scotland and there is an election for a new leader and, um, there's uh, three or four people who I think, who are sort of separating themselves that Kate Forbes is one of them who's a Christian.

  Hamza Yousaf, I hope I pronounced his name right, is the primary favorite. Now he is quite a devout Muslim, um, and Kate is quite a devout Christian. And one of the things that we've noticed and. In fact, it was even mentioned in the, in the, in the press was the fact that we are, the, the, the public has scrutinized her Christian beliefs, but not, um, Mr. Yousaf's Muslim beliefs.

  Uh, and it's really interesting how they've picked up on that for her, but not for not his faith beliefs. Um, and so you were mentioning, weren't you on Jeremy Vine? Can you, what was the topic? Can you be a Christian? Yeah. That was a topic.

  Dan: Yeah, it was. Can you be religious and a Christian, religious and a politician? Because some of the things that we are coming at the laws and stuff now are so, almost so far removed. Mm-hmm. From those things, or not removed, contradict. Mm-hmm. Um, some of the, like some of the things that we, you know, are coming into law and we're, we're discussing can they, yeah. Can they coexist? Mm-hmm.

  It's an interesting question. I was saying to you that if you know God or um, and, and you follow and you've been changed, then you have this desire to bring sort of what God's done in you. Yeah. Um, and you also have something you're basing those beliefs on. Yeah. If you don't have religion or if you don't have God, where are you gonna go?

  Yeah. And I think it's great that, yeah. Um, we have something to not, not fall back on. We have a guide and still we have a, that, um, that's sort of, yeah. Um, it says Jesus is a tricky path, that it's a short path. We have that path to follow. .

  Matt: Yeah, it is. It's um, it, I mean, you know, we are not gonna talk about politics all afternoon because, well, I, to be totally clear, I am not voting in the SNP elections, cuz I don't live in Scotland. I don't get a say.

  Um, uh, but one of the things that I, I have to admire Kate for is she has been completely transparent and honest. Um, and people see that as a bad thing. I see that as a good thing because you know, a lot of you, you could cover up and say, we're not gonna talk about this type of thing. Um, but where's the honesty in that?

  Where's the transparency in that? So, you know, hats off to her for doing that, but it does remind me of that, uh, you know, we're reading that part in the scripture earlier on. Um, I'm looking over here cause that's where the Bible is by the way. . Um, I was, I was, we were reading that part, weren't we? Where they said to him, you know, you cannot teach, uh, anymore.

  You cannot preach nor teach in the name of Jesus anymore. And Peter's like, yeah, no, we're, we're not gonna listen to you bud. But there is this thing at the moment which says you cannot talk about, and I think this is a cultural thing now, in modern day culture, you cannot talk about your Christian faith.

  And people are saying you have to stop talking about it. Especially in, in the context of certain things. Like with Kate Forbes in the politic arena, uh, the political arena, you cannot talk about it. And I think actually as Christians, we have to go, well, hang on a minute, who are we gonna listen to here?

  Because we cannot help but speak about the things which we have seen and heard. Now, that's not to say that we need to, I don't think we need to stand up on the street corners and tell everybody how to live, uh, according to the Christian faith, cuz I think that can be quite off-putting. Um, but I don't think I should be silenced about my Christian faith because I cannot help but speak about the things which I've seen and heard Do you know what I mean? Does that make sense?

  Dan: Yeah, it does. And I think the great thing is about, um, knowing God and him letting him come into your life and change in you is that he changes you. It's not someone telling you must do this, you must do that. Yes, the Bible gives us some great guidelines and that's what we can always go back to.

  Well, not guidelines it get, it speaks to us and we can always go back to the, to the Bible, but he, he transforms us, doesn't he? That's what it's, it's all about. Um, but yeah, I think I wrote down here, I'm, so again, I'm looking to the side . Um, it uh, said the disciples had faith and they said there's no other name to be saved.

  And that is, You know, that's the statement nowadays. That's the statement worthy of being canceled, isn't it? If you put that on Yeah. Twitter at all, or that it means, it means everything else. No good. Yeah. There's only one way to be saved in that. Jesus Christ. It's a, it's a statement and a half.

  Matt: Understatement of the day, Dan. Understatement of the day. Yeah.

  No, it's, you're right. And it's, I think it's something that we have to wrestle with, isn't it? So, question for you then, we've got some questions written down here, and I know you guys have put comments. Um, in, uh, the stream, and we've been going through those. So how can we, um, what was the question we pinned in the comments there.

  How have you experienced God's presence and guidance during a challenging situation in your life? Can you share your personal story of overcoming adversity with God's help? How would you answer that question?

  Dan: Thanks for that..

  Matt: Just to put you on the spot, to be fair, the question was in the comments, uh,

  Dan: it was so, yes, that's true. Yeah. Um, I think God has helped me in so many different spots, you know, when things have been tricky. When I've been, um, well, Matt helped me with this. Um, Matt was married before I was married and before I was going out with my wife Lisa, and there was quite a few times when it, you know, times when it was going really well.

  Times when it wasn't going very well. Times when I broke up with her, times when she came down and hit me with a pillow and said, you know what you're doing.

  Matt: You know what I remember? I'm never gonna forget that the pillow gate, uh, as we call it.

  Dan: Yes. Um, and that was definitely one way. I just had to, I had to trust God.

  It's a saying you're gonna commit your life to someone. The rest of your life to be with someone else is, is a massive commitment. Yeah. And, um, I have to trust God and know that that was right, but also, also perhaps if it, how can I say this? Even if it wasn't, if it wasn't r not say if it wasn't right. Trust that that was the right thing to do.

  Yeah. But that, when things were tough and when I doubted it, he would help me through mm-hmm. . Yeah. And that's what I rely on. And he has, and it's still going. Um, and we still have tough times. We still have, you know, easier times and we're working through different things. You, you know, you, you are getting to know, still getting to know someone who's very different to you.

  Yeah. And, um, without God, that would be, that would be really hard, like massively hard. And I know I can always trust that he's, he's with me and he is with us in our, in our relationship, in our marriage.

  Matt: Yeah, totally. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean that's a, so it's a cracking example and um, I think you're right.

  I think there are definite times where, you know, God's presence and guide, guidance, during our challenging times. One of the things I loved about what James said, uh, and this is slightly contentious, one of the things I loved about what James said was when he went to court, did you hear this? And he is like, I felt I needed to do what God told me to do.

  And I've always said this to folks, right, that I think it's easier for God to deal with your um, failures than it is to deal with your disobedience. So if I, if I feel like James felt like God was saying for him to do something, he could have misheard or he might not have seen the whole picture, which is usually the problem I have is I don't usually see the whole picture.

  Um, but Do you know what I mean there, there could be some kind of complication there, but he still acted irrespective of that. And if he did it wrong or if it wasn't totally right. I think God can cope with that. It's when we just sit back and go, I don't know. I'll just start. I'm not gonna do anything. So I just don't know.

  Yeah, and it, it, it become that, that I think becomes problematic. But the thing which I find fascinating about James's story right, is that it wasn't a good outcome. He felt God tell him to do something, and everything within me wants to go, well if you do what God says, the outcome will be beautiful.

  Mm-hmm. . Right. But he, he, it's not what James is saying at all. And I think, uh, it's, it's quite refreshing to hear the stories from people where actually they felt God tell 'em to do something and it didn't quite work out the way that they expected. Yeah. Um, and I think that is fascinating, uh, in its own right.

  And I think that I can, I can think of challenges in my own life where, um, where, yeah. Where it's not always been a great outcome.

  Dan: Hmm. And I, and I, and I think, think about that judge and wonder what he was thinking. Cuz he must be, he's in court every day listening to people argue. And one of them, you know, there's two people arguing and one of them is arguing for something that is not technically right, isn't it?

  He's, yeah, that's what he's listening to people put in an argument for, so, , you, you hope that they think it's, it's, it's true. Um, but it's not, you know, someone has committed a crime. They haven't committed a crime, but someone's fighting for that person that's committed a crime. Um, and perhaps you, you don't know what's hap you know what he's thought about that?

  Ah, they've come in from a church. Yes, it was right. They didn't get that money, but they didn't try to say. Hmm. You know, we should get it anyway. This is just, yeah. They came in and told it. You dunno. Do you? No. I think sometimes we do have to do stuff. And we may never know if it's had the impact, but it perhaps it's just for us.

  Yeah. It's just obedience.

  Matt: Well, yeah, that's, maybe it was just a little test for James, uh, which I thought was quite interesting. So, Emmanuel has written here in the comments question, Is every challenging situation adversity designed to help us grow or improve? So is every challenging situation or adversity designed to help us grow or improve?

  Or are there certain challenges that are not linked to our character formation and spiritual growth? So Sharon has then written comments. I think some challenging situations are our own making and some are out of our control. I don't think God necessarily causes all the challenges that are out of our control, but we always have a choice as to how we, uh, react to them.

  Um, and we can look to, yes, I, I'd agree with Sharon. Obviously I'm gonna agree with my wife, um, but I think it's a great question, Emmanuel. Is every challenge in a situation or adversity designed to help with grow and improve? I don't know if I'd word the question that way in the sense that I don't know if challenges and adversities are necessarily designed for us to grow.

  I don't think that's the primary reason they always exist. I think sometimes maybe. Sure. Um, but I think we can grow in every adversity and, and, and I think we can, we can take advantage of the adversities that we're in, if that makes sense. So I don't think, I don't always think God sends, um, adversities to teach us something or to help us grow, but I think in every adversity, God wants to teach us something and for us to grow.

  Yes. Does that, does that make sense?

  Dan: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah, I think there's always, yeah, there is always that opportunity to grow. There's always that opportunity to, to get to know God more, isn't there? And I think it's in some ways easier to get to know God more and trust Him more when there's problems.

  I mean, the, we, we just read it today in the early church, things massively changed. I was reading, uh, this week, I think Acts 6. And you know, they were all getting of everybody I know. Sorry. Jumping ahead. Um, but they were getting persecuted and because they were persecuted, they went, they had to scarper and get to different places and that took the gospel out. It was just, yeah. It, it caused, yeah. It cause expansion of, of the gospel.

  Matt: Spoiler alert by the way. Just alright. Don't tell 'em what happens in the end. Just don't tell . Uh, but no, it's true. And we, I mean we often talk about it, don't we? That persecutions one of those things that actually a per the persecuted church grows really well.

  Yeah. Um, and the unpersecute church just becomes bizarre and weird. Do, you know, what I mean and starts arguing over the most bizarre tiny little things, um, which is predominantly the Western Church in a lot of ways. Um, but I I, I think when you're in the midst and, and how to thrive in adversity is, I think there's a title of this, um, livestream.

  I think when you are in the midst of adversity, which we're all gonna fail, we're all gonna have seasons, right? Some seasons are good, some seasons are tough, and we're all gonna go through various things. And I think when you are in those seasons of adversity, when things are tough. To have the mindset and the belief that even though it's tough, even though it's hard, God is still on the throne.

  and I can still grow and I can still experience him in this situation. And I'm gonna talk about this in a few weeks actually. Uh, again, spoiler alert, but there is this, there is this timeframe, um, between the beginning of the adversity and the end, and it's like when things are going on, we'll pray. God help us, or God get us out of this, or whatever the actual Prayer is.

  and then there can be a, a, a season between that Prayer being given and that Prayer being answered if indeed it's ever gonna get answered right, uh, in the way that we think it's going to. But, but that timeframe could be years. Uh, and so our life doesn't go on pause. Our Prayer life doesn't go on pause.

  Our experience of God doesn't go on pause because in this gap, in this timeframe. God can still do miracles in other ways. Yeah. That you've never even thought of. And you can experience him in so many ways. How do you thrive in adversity? Like James said, you just rely on the Holy Spirit and you grow in your relationship with him and you go, yes, this is going on.

  No, I'm not denying it, but you know what? It's not gonna knock God off the throne. And so I'm still gonna see the goodness of God in the day that I'm living in and it might not be what I expect and it, it may take a little while for this Prayer to get answered, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna see something over here where the goodness of God is gonna manifest.

  Right. So yeah, that's all coming up in a few weeks time. Yeah. We're gonna get into that into a whole lot more detail. There is a theme coming through the Book of Acts, um, which you may have noticed cause a few weeks ago John talked about it as well. Yeah.

  Dan: I think it's great to look back at the times when things have been tough and see, well God helped me then. He was with me then. He's still with me now. Yep. We can, can forget about those things in the past, can't we? Very easily.

  Matt: we can, yeah. The Old Testament, when you, when you read, it's full of these, God tells the, the sort of the people of Israel to build a memorial or to have a festival of remembrance. Do you know what I mean?

  Passover. This is basically remembrance that God saved you. Mm-hmm. . And it's like, this is big celebration. And, and so often we don't celebrate, we don't build these memorials. We don't remember, um, the good things that God has done for us. And remember this, you can't have a testimony without a test. Right.

  And so to remember those, to be able to speak about those I think is quite important. And to write those down, to put them in your journal, to celebrate them in some way, the wins, the victories, the things that God has done, I just think is just a beautiful thing. Is a beautiful thing. Yeah. So do do that.

  Right. Daniel, thank you for that. I'm aware of time. Uh, and we are, uh, fast approaching the top of the hour. Matt says here, great conversation Street so far. That's very kind of you. Matthew, thank you very much. Uh, coming up so far. Hopefully it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, we coming up, we wrap up the chats. We plug the zoom.

  We do plug the zoom. So if you are watching, uh, crowd and, you think. I kinda like these guys. These guys are cool. Well, kind of like what you're doing online. Would love to get more involved. Uh, if you wanna join online church, uh, get more involved with what we're doing, it'd be great. You're more than welcome at Crowd.

  By the way, it'd be great to see you. We do have midweek groups on Zoom where you can come join in. Uh, little Catchup, little Pray Little. Whatever, uh, we are actually what we do, what we started doing recently is going through the questions that get pinned in the conversation, uh, on YouTube. So, uh, if you'd like to get involved with that, we'd love to meet, you'd love to connect with you.

  Just get in touch with us via the website, www.crowd.church or on social media at Crowd Church. There on your screen. If you're watching, um, we would love to connect with you and we'll send you the Zoom link out and yeah, it'd be great to touch base on that. Uh, so I've wrapped up, I plugged the Zoom. Share details of next week's topic and speaker. You can do that, Dan.

  Dan: I have no idea who's, forgot to swatch up on that.

  Matt: Yeah, that was brilliant. Forgot to swatch up. Next week. Uh, I'm desperately trying to search for them because I've forgotten now. Who is it next week? Pete Farrington. That's who it is next week. Um, so we've got the amazing Pete. I love Pete Farrington. Dude's so cool. He's just so cool. . So we do, we have Pete Farrington next week on Prayer that changes things.

  Uh, I'm gonna be hosting. Claire Glare is gonna be here hosting with me as well. So, uh, Claire is always just, she's just great love Claire. Uh, just full of amazing stories. So do come join us next week for that. If you haven't done so already, click the thumbs up button on the YouTube video, click the notification thing, and that will tell you when we're going live. Which is kind of cool. Um, so yeah. Anything else from you, Dan, before we wrap up this week's Crowd Church?

  Dan: No, just a quick plug of the, the podcast. You saw that little clip? It's really, oh yeah. That, that podcast with Caesar is brilliant. Yeah. Have a listen.

  Matt: Yeah. You've been getting into the What's the story podcast, haven't you?

  Dan: I have, yeah. Yeah. Been listening to at work keep, um, dipping in on me drives, drives around the city.

  Matt: dipping, driving. I think it's funny. 25% of us listen to podcasts in the car. Did you know that? 50% Listen at home and 75% listen to podcasts on smart devices. So if you're listening to this on the podcast when you are outside walking the dog or driving.

  Very, very, very warm welcome to you. It's great that you are here on the podcast as well as to all of those on the livestream. Indeed. So with all of that said, uh, let's wrap it up. So Dan, thank you so much for joining me, bud. Appreciate it. Great conversation.

  Dan: Thanks for having me. It's been brilliant and look forward to

  Matt: Well to be fair you stepped in at last minute, so it was very kind of you, so yeah. No, it's been great. So thank you for joining us everybody. Thanks for all your comments on the livestream. If you are watching this on Catchup, do come join us in the livestream and throw your comments and thoughts in as well, because I know actually once a live stream has ended, YouTube cuts all of those comments out as the video gets trimmed and stuff, so I didn't get that. Could you try again? That was Siri. So, uh, apparently he didn't understand. Uh, so yes, , uh, I love it when he interrupts. Um, so yeah, thanks everybody. It's been great to connect with you. Have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world. That's it from me. That's it from Dan. God bless you. Bye for now.

  Dan: Good night.

  Matt: Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church. Now if you are watching on YouTube, make sure you hit the subscribe button as well as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are live. And of course, if you are listening to the podcast, uh, the Livestream podcast, make sure you also hit the follow button.

  Now by smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on your podcast platform, it helps us reach more people with the message that Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life. So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website, www.crowd.church, where you can learn more about us as a church, more about the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community.

  It has been awesome to connect with you and you are awesome. It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time. That's it from us. God bless you. Bye for now.