#24 What We Learned About Biblical Wholeness And Where We Go Next

Sunday LivestreamBecoming Whole

27 Apr

Written By Matt Edmundson

YouTube Video of the Church Service

Time Stamps

00:00:00 - Welcome from Anna and Sharon
00:01:57 - Talk: What We Learned About Biblical Wholeness with Matt Edmundson
00:04:00 - What Biblical Wholeness Really Means
00:12:02 - Recap: The Five Areas of Wholeness We've Explored
00:17:07 - Christ in Me: The Power of God Within Us
00:27:53 - Looking Forward: Our Journey into Soul Health
00:31:33 - Conversation Street: Practical Steps for Growth

What We Learned About Biblical Wholeness And Where We Go Next

After a break to explore Genesis, we're returning to our popular "Becoming Whole" series where Matt Edmundson recaps where we've been and a sneak peek at where we're heading next. If you missed the first 23 weeks (yes, really!), don't worry – this summary will catch you up on the essentials and prepare you for what's coming.

What Biblical Wholeness Is (And Isn't)

Let's start with what wholeness isn't: it's not self-improvement. While self-help books and programs focus on external changes and rely entirely on your willpower, biblical wholeness offers something radically different.

Matt reminded us of his story about Photoshopping a work photo – tucking in his belly, removing his double chin, and smoothing his skin. But as soon as he edited that photo, it became broken – it wasn't complete or true. It was a façade, a lie. Those filters were just an outward response to inner brokenness.

The biblical definition of wholeness gives us something better to aim for:

"Biblical wholeness is nothing missing, nothing broken, complete in every part, through and through, no part wanting or unsound."

This comes from Paul's prayer in 1 Thessalonians 5:23:

"May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ."

Rather than being something we achieve through our own efforts, wholeness is something we receive – an ongoing gift from God.

The Five Areas of Wholeness

To make this practical, Matt reminded us of the five key areas we're exploring in this series, using the image of a tree:

Becoming Whole Areas: Spirit, Soul, Body, Relationship & Economic

Spirit (the trunk) – Our connection with God and spiritual health
Soul (branches) – Our mental and emotional wellbeing
Body (more branches) – Our physical health
Relational (even more branches) – Our connections with others
Economic – Our approach to work, money, and giving

Unlike our culture's one-dimensional view of success (like Matt's wealthy client who had billions but strained relationships), biblical wholeness seeks balance across all these areas, with spiritual health as the foundation.

What We've Learned So Far

In the first part of this series, we focused on spiritual health – the trunk of our tree. Here's a quick recap of what we discovered:

1. Our Identity in Christ

In a world that tells us we can be whoever we want to be, we found that our deepest identity isn't something we construct but something we receive from Christ. As Pete Farrington said, "It was when I took my eyes off myself that I found myself."

While our culture pushes us to look deeper within for answers (often leading to more confusion), true identity is found in Christ. As Colossians 3:3 tells us, "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

This identity is secure – no fire can burn it up, no disaster can rob you of it, and no mistake can make you lose it.

2. Christ in Me

Beyond being "in Christ," we discovered the extraordinary truth that Christ actually lives within believers. Like Rafiki telling Simba in The Lion King that his father "lives in you," we found that Christ makes His home in us.

Matt used the illustration of a glove – a glove left to itself can never fulfill its purpose, no matter how much encouragement or training it receives. It only fulfills its purpose when a hand, a greater life force, fills it and works through it. Similarly, we can only fulfill our purpose when we allow Christ to fill and work through us.

3. Living Life Abundantly

Dave Connolly helped us understand what Jesus meant when He said, "I have come that they may have life and have it to the full" (John 10:10). True abundance isn't tied to having more stuff but finding contentment regardless of circumstances.

As Paul wrote in Philippians 4:12-13, "I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation... I can do all this through him who gives me strength."

4. Discovering Our Purpose in Christ

Sharon helped us see that we are God's workmanship – His masterpiece, His poetry. Ephesians 2:10 tells us, "We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Like the cabinet Matt lovingly crafted for a friend, we are not mass-produced items rolling off an assembly line but hand-designed with purpose and care. This frees us from the pressure to constantly reinvent ourselves.

5. The Fruit of the Spirit

We spent nine weeks exploring the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These aren't qualities we manufacture through effort but the natural result of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.

As Sharon said, "If we choose to hang out with God and cooperate with His Spirit in us, these will automatically develop in us."

6. Spiritual Disciplines

We explored practical ways to nurture spiritual health through prayer, fasting, Bible reading, and acts of service. Each of these disciplines connects us more deeply with God and shapes us to be more like Christ.

What's Coming Next: Soul Health

Having built a strong spiritual foundation, we're now ready to explore soul health – our mind, will, and emotions. When our spiritual health is thriving, our thought patterns change, our emotional responses become more balanced, and our decision-making improves.

Over the coming weeks, we'll look at topics like:

How to let go of the past
Renewing our minds
Emotional resilience
Gratitude
The power of hope

Sharon will kick things off next week with the crucial topic of forgiveness.

From Conversation Street: How God Transforms Our Identity

During Conversation Street, Anna, Sharon, and Matt shared powerful personal stories about how God has transformed their identity and character:

Anna described how she's become less driven by self-effort and achievement over her 25 years of walking with God. Where she once was consumed with getting the best grades, job, and salary, she now finds contentment in her circumstances. It's not that she doesn't try to do well, but her motivation has changed – she's no longer operating from a need to prove herself.

Sharon shared her journey of discovering what it means to be a "new creation" in Christ. For years, she struggled with feeling she couldn't do the right thing, believing she was fundamentally flawed inside. When God showed her that He had made her new on the inside, it revolutionized her understanding – "The blockage was in my head. The reality was that I was a new creation, but I was still thinking like I was an old one."

Matt reflected on how understanding his identity in Christ transformed him from an insecure young man to someone confident in God's promises. This wasn't about becoming arrogant but finding security in who God says he is rather than what he could achieve.

The team also discussed which fruits of the Spirit have been most transformative in their lives. For Anna, it's been patience and self-control – learning to remain calm in stressful situations like someone crashing into her car. For Sharon, it's been peace – replacing constant internal turmoil with genuine tranquility. And for Matt, it's been joy – finding the ability to see situations differently and approach life with a positive perspective.

Your Next Steps

Catch up – If you missed the spiritual health section, check out the talks on our website, especially numbers 17-21 on identity.
Assess your spiritual health – Take time this week to consider: Is the trunk of your tree strong? How's your prayer life and time in God's Word? Which fruits of the Spirit need strengthening in your life?
Stay connected – Join us each Sunday as we continue the series, and consider joining a midweek small group to work through these themes together.

Remember, becoming whole isn't about perfection – it's about progress. As Matt concluded, "Wholeness is God's plan for you and your life... It may take 10 days, it may take 10 years... Just stick with it and stick with God and just believe actually we can be whole people."

Join us next Sunday as Sharon explores forgiveness – a crucial step on our journey to wholeness.

Anna Kettle: [00:00:00] Good evening and welcome to Crowd Church. Uh, I'm Anna Kettle and I'm joined tonight by Sharon. Sharon, say hi.
Sharon Edmundson: Hi, everybody. Good to be with you. Yeah,
Anna Kettle: it's, uh, it's been a good day today. The sun's shining and Liverpool has also won the league, so that's exciting for everyone, certainly here in Liverpool. So, um, in more important news though, tell us what's coming up tonight, Sharon, do you know?
Sharon Edmundson: I do. Well, we've been working through the Book of Genesis, but we've actually come to the end of that now. So we're picking up on a series that we started a while ago and kind of stopped in the middle of to do the. Stuff on Genesis. So tonight we've got Matt, and he's gonna be recapping what we did, and I think, did you say it was about 23 weeks that we'd done previously?
So I didn't remember it all. I had a look at the notes earlier and I was like, oh yeah, [00:01:00] we did some really good stuff in that. So Matt's gonna do recap tonight and then just set us up for next week moving forward.
Anna Kettle: So,
Sharon Edmundson: yeah.
Anna Kettle: Yeah, I think, I think that's, I'm really excited to get back into this series actually.
I thought it was really good and um. Yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back stuck into some meaty subjects around this. But, um, and just to say like, we'll pass over to Matt in a minute. He's gonna, um, share his talk with us, but just to say if you've got any questions, any thoughts, any comments as he's, even as he's talking, then please do just add them to the chat box, share them online and we'll try and pick them up in Conversation Street afterwards.
Do our best to unpick them and answer them. So, yeah. Yeah. We'll pass over to Matt, shall we?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. Before that I just wanna say hi to aid and Matt who are in comments. Welcome. Great to have you with us.
Matt Edmundson: Wow.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Very good. Very, very good. Well, very good, warm welcome to you one and all. My voice [00:02:00] is a little bit ho, hoarse.
I'm gonna get it outta the way. Liverpool have just won the league, uh, and there was, I dunno how many guys around our house. We were watching the football, we scored five goals. There was a lot of shouting. And so please do forgive my voice. Uh, and if you're not a Liverpool fan, then I can only, uh, I dunno, empathize, maybe, or pray for you.
I, I dunno. Well maybe
Anna Kettle: you say, well you should be.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I don't wanna be that prescriptive. Maybe, uh, we'll talk about Jesus a little bit more than Liverpool, but let's just get the elephant out. You know, the elephant in the room addressed, which is yes, Liverpool have won the league and I'm stoked 'cause I'm a lifelong Liverpool fan, right?
That's out of the outta the way. Uh, if those of you like say not Liverpool fans or don't care about football, that's it. We're done. So a while ago we started a teaching series called Becoming Whole. And today, like Anna and Sharon have said, we are gonna be picking that up again. Now. It was about a year ago that we [00:03:00] stopped doing the talks, um, because a lot of changes happened at Crowd and we thought, well, it's, it was a good place to end because we sort of finished part one.
Uh, we. We're now gonna start part two. I'm gonna do a bit of a recap of part one. We're gonna go into part two, so stay with us. Uh, it's gonna be, it's gonna be fun. So for those of you joining us for the first time, lemme just say, very warm, welcome to you. And for those of you who have been with us on the journey from the beginning, welcome back.
Uh, like I say, this whole topic of wholeness is exciting and it is great to be picking these things back up in the coming weeks. Yes, it is. So, uh, in this series we are unpacking this concept of wholeness. From a biblical perspective, uh, which is important, not just, you know, a random talk about wholeness or, you know, how to be more complete or better human beings.
You know, Joe McGuire, you complete me kind of thing. No, we're gonna, as good as the movie was, we're gonna look at this from a biblical [00:04:00] perspective, uh, which is actually really, really eye-opening, let me tell you. So I wanna give you an overview of what Biblical wholeness means. I'm gonna remind us of what we have looked at already, and then, like I say, we're gonna set the stage for what's coming.
So that's what the, that's what we're gonna try and aim to do tonight, uh, which is no mean feat, let me tell you. So. Number one, question number one for the evening, what does true biblical wholeness actually look like? Well, let's to answer that, let me first look at what wholeness I. Isn't. Okay. So becoming whole is not about self-improvement, and this is a really important point.
Why? Well, because usually self-improvement focuses on external changes while neglecting internal transformation. I appreciate that's not always true, but the more majority of time it is, [00:05:00] self-improvement focuses, um, or it promises fulfillment through things like achievement and appearance and acquisition rather than addressing, uh, core needs for wholeness.
Right. And it also totally relies. On me and my willpower, which if I'm honest with you, is not a great source of power. Just if you're like me, it's just not. And so we, we need, we need, we need God's help, really. So let me take you back to when we first started the series. Um, I shared a photo, uh, from a work photo shoot.
You can see it on the screen. Uh, and after about 20 attempts of trying to take this darn photo, not a single photo seemed good enough to me. Each one had some kind of flaw, you know, like a stray hair or my smile wasn't right or something just didn't feel right about the photo. So I did what every other well [00:06:00] guy who knows how to use computers did I turned to Photoshop.
I'm, I took to my belly. I took away my double chin and I adjusted my arms, uh, and I smoothed the skin. But as soon as I edited that photo, when I made myself look thinner and younger. Well, it really, it really became broken, wasn't it? It wasn't complete. It wasn't true. It wasn't actual, it was a facade. It was lie.
And the filters were an outward response to an inner brokenness, uh, in terms of how maybe I viewed myself, but I was, and I still am a man of faith. I was a Christian, and surely Christianity has something to say about this whole idea, right? There has to be more to our Christian faith than just getting a pass into heaven, but living kind of like, you know, the same old way day after day until I die.
And this is where the Bible, I think, offers us something [00:07:00] really, really radical and really different from the world's solutions, right? And the sort of traditional self-help. There's a wonderful verse in the Bible, which we have been using for the foundation of this series. Uh, the Apostle Paul, Saint Paul, he writes a lot of the, the New Testament, um, and he's writing into a church in Thessalonica.
And in one Thessalonians 5 23, Paul says, may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely. And may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So biblical wholeness, this idea of being kept blameless becomes whole, right? Um, Paul's talking about every aspect, uh, of wholeness.
He talked about spirit, he talked about soul, and he talked about body. And a working definition I really like. Um, when it comes to wholeness, biblical wholeness is [00:08:00] this. Biblical wholeness is nothing missing, nothing broken, complete in every part, through and through no part wanting or unsound, which I dunno about.
You just sounds really fantastic, doesn't it? I mean, that sounds like a beautiful place to be, but to get there, like I say, I think we're gonna need divine help. We're gonna need God's help. So wholeness then is something that I see as a dance between me and Christ. It's a journey. It isn't something that I buy, it isn't something that I can just conjure up or magic.
In fact, it's something that I received. It's a sort of an unending gift, a perpetual gift, uh, from God. So how do we get to that place where nothing is missing and nothing is broken? Well, part of the truth is obviously the fulfillment of that will be heaven and what we believe to be heaven, but actually.[00:09:00]
What can we have down here on Earth? And can we have anything down here on Earth? Well, that's a question we're looking at throughout this series and as a framework to help us break it down a little bit, we're exploring five key areas of wholeness. We broke these down. Uh, number one, we've got this sort of beautiful image of a tree.
Uh, number one spirit, our connection with God, our spiritual health. And you'll notice that on the tree, the trunk, uh, supports the entire. Tree. Right? It supports everything else. Number two, our soul, uh, our mental and emotional wellbeing area. Number three is body. So being whole with our physical health area.
Number four is relational, which is our connection with others, friends, family, coworkers, so on. Uh, and number five is economic. Uh, so our approach to work and to money and to giving. So we've broken [00:10:00] wholeness down into these sort of five areas, because I think these are five key areas that the Bible talks about.
Spirit, soul, body, relational, and economic health. And when we started the series, um, if you were with us, you may remember I told you about a work trip I took with a very, very wealthy client. He had everything that most of us could dream of, right? Billions. I mean, literally billions in the bank, private jets, properties all over the world.
But his relationships were very, very strained, especially with his kids who really didn't want to know him. His body health was good. I mean, he was fit. His economic health was, I mean, just off the charts right, who doesn't want a billion in the bank, but the rest of him. I actually think he was quite broken.
He was not whole at all. And unlike our culture's, one dimensional view, uh, of success, biblical [00:11:00] wholeness isn't just about excelling in one area while neglecting all the others. It's about finding balance and wholeness across all of them with spiritual wholeness as the foundation. Okay, so question number two then.
What have we discovered about wholeness in our journey so far? Okay. A good question. What did we cover in those? Uh, I think you're right, babe. It was 23. Um. Services talks that we've done around this topic so far. So what I'm gonna do is just spend a few minutes unpacking some of the key lessons that we learned in there.
Right? We're gonna do a quick recap. So spins, I don't even know if that's a word, but since spiritual health is the foundation, uh, the trunk, like I say, of our tree, we spent the first part of this series [00:12:00] focusing there and we covered a lot, let me tell you because it is a big topic. And so some of the areas we looked at, number one, we touched on our identity in Christ.
Okay? We started by asking this really fundamental question, who are you? I dunno if you remember the song by the who, who are you? Uh, you can all sing it. Who are you? Who, who? Yeah. I'll stop singing now. Um, it's, but the question itself is really important, isn't it? Uh, it's, it's, it's so, so important to understanding our place in this world.
You see, we're in a world. We live in a world which tells us that we can be whoever we want to be, but we discovered that our deepest identity isn't something that we construct. It's something that we receive from Christ. Pete Farrington, who did one of the talks on identity, said [00:13:00] something really, really wonderful about this whole thing.
He said, it was when I took my eyes off myself that I found myself. You see, our culture pushes us to look deeper within for answers, but paradoxically, that often leads to more confusion, more anxiety. So true identity, I think is found by finding ourselves in Christ. We don't find ourselves within ourselves.
That just kind of makes no sense to me. But within him, uh, in the Book of Colossians, uh, we see a wonderful verse where Paul writes and he says, for you have died and your life is hidden now with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Our life is hid in Christ.
It's in him. Our identity is in [00:14:00] him, which is why I'm sure you can appreciate, I, I don't think it's a good idea to build our identity around our job, for example, but so many of us do be, but especially in today's market, right? In today's economy, that's a very unstable place to build your identity. If you lose your job, do you lose who you are?
That's a big question. Well, what happens if your job becomes problematic? You can find yourself in deep depression because your identity is not as secure as you once thought. Same with success and achievements. I spent years getting my degree and when I got it right. Graduation day was great. Everybody celebrated with me on that day.
But since that day, I can't tell you one person who has celebrated with me. Sure, it was a good thing to do when I did it, but my identity can't be in my achievements because tomorrow, the truth is no [00:15:00] one's gonna really care about them. But perhaps the most insidious thing that we are told to base our identity on is our appearance, because then we start using phrases like anti-aging.
Why should I be anti-aging? Why be anti it? Why be against it? What's wrong with aging? Aging should be celebrated. We're alive another day. Woohoo. It's great. Right? Uh. But now we've got to this place where we're so against the appearance of looking older that I, I was watching, um, something on TV early on, a very popular TV show.
One of the people on the show is just, if I'm being brutally honest, has injected a lot of poison in their face to plump it up and it looks unnatural. And kids are seeing that. They're seeing that it's not okay to look natural. You have to sort of look false. And it's become the new normal. All because we aren't happy [00:16:00] with what we see in the mirror.
And if that's where your identity is based from then I think you've really got a massive problem for the future. I learned that, didn't I? When I Photoshop that image, it's not because I have an issue with trying to look my best or to look good. I don't have an issue with that at all, but it's more I didn't like what I saw in that photo.
So changing a shirt, brushing my hair, smartening myself up, fantastic. Manipulating a photo, not so great. Injecting myself with things to try and manipulate myself in real life. I appreciate, this is my opinion. I just, I just question what is, uh, insiders that drives us to do that, right? So an identity that is hidden in Christ, I think is different.
It's secure. Pete Farrington said that no fire can burn it up. No disaster can rob you of it, and no mistake can make you lose it. We can be whole because our [00:17:00] identity is in Christ. So we spent a lot of time looking at that. The second thing we looked at was this whole idea of Christ in me. So we are in Christ.
But there is this fundamental truth that is extraordinary in so many ways that Christ actually lives within believers, within Christians, Christ comes and makes his home in them. I dunno if you've ever seen the movie The Lion King. We touched on this when we looked at this idea of Christ being in me. Uh, but you remember the sort of this iconic image, this scene where Simba is told that his dad is still alive.
And Rafiki, the monkey tells him to look, uh, in the water because it's in his reflection. His dad is alive because he lives in you. So Christ lives in you. He comes, he makes his home inners. And the implications of that. Are [00:18:00] absolutely extraordinary. Now, if you've been with us throughout the series, uh, you may remember to illustrate this.
I used a glove. I meant to bring one with me, uh, but I did get a little bit wrapped up in the whole Liverpool thing. Sorry, I'm not supposed to mention that again. Um, I, but I meant to bring a glove with me. I use this sort of glove illustration. Um, a gym glove, uh, a glove left to itself can never fulfill its purpose, right?
It doesn't matter how much encouragement you give to the glove. It doesn't matter how much training you provide the glove or how much commitment the glove may make to fulfill its purpose. The glove really only fulfills its purpose when a hand, a greater life force fills it and works through it. And in the same way we can try and live out our purpose.
Just through encouragement. You know, maybe we just need more training. Maybe we just need to be sheer determined, bloody minded, kind of in that [00:19:00] vein. Maybe that's what we need, but I think we always fall short unless we allow Christ to fill us and work through us so we can be whole because Christ lives in us.
Number three, we can live life abundantly. Dave Connolly picked this topic up. He helped us understand what Jesus meant when he said, I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. He said that in John chapter 10, verse 10. So other translations will say, um, I have come that they may have life in all its abundance.
I just love that phrase. True abundance isn't tied to having more stuff, but finding contentment regardless of what we do or don't have. So Paul went right into the church at Philippi. He said this. I know what it is to be in need and I know what it is to have plenty. [00:20:00] I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.
I can do all this through him who gives me strength. That sounds great, doesn't it? How to be content in any and every situation. And this contentment means being, it means being independent of circumstances, right? Regardless of what is going on around me, I. I can live independent of that. I can be content because I am living through Christ who strengthens me, and I thank God for that because that means he's our source of abundance, right?
I don't have to conjure it up somehow, nor do I have to chase it through the accumulation of money or sex or power or promotion, or even, dare I say, the digital nomad lifestyle. Good thing, right? But I don't have to chase that. I think they're all a poor substitute for [00:21:00] abundance. When you think about it, when you think it through, it's like you can have those things or you can turn to Christ and he provides you with abundance and joy and strength.
It's like. Having a table set before me, right? And on one side there is one grain of uncooked rice. And I can think I've won the lottery because I've got that one grain of uncooked rice. Everything I need is there. But on the other side is an eternal banquet that never runs out. It never runs dry. It's got all kinds of wonderful things.
It's a no brainer. That's the abundant life in Christ. I think we spend a lot of, a lot of our life searching for things that really can only be found in Christ. So we can be whole because Christ is our source of abundance. And in that abundance, I can have an insane level of contentment. Number [00:22:00] four, uh, we can behold, uh, based on discovering our purpose in Christ.
Now, Sharon, my beautiful wife, who has sat next to me, helped to see that we are in fact God's workmanship. I love this phrase, workmanship. It means craftsmanship. His masterpiece, his poetry. Like God wrote a love poem and I, it, you know, that kind of thing. And in Ephesians two 10, uh, we read that we are God's workmanship, his masterpiece, his poetry created in Christ Jesus.
There's that phrase again, to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. I love that. I mean, I love it. And Sharon, uh, used an example of a cabinet that I actually made, I made this cabinet, uh, for a friend's birthday. Here's a photo of it, uh, all the way in sunny New Zealand. Now that cabinet that I made was created lovingly.
It was [00:23:00] handcrafted and it was made with a specific purpose. A specific, a specific intention. I have to be quite careful how I say that. Uh, in other words, as people, we are not mass produced items rolling off and assembly line crafted works of art were hand designed, each designed with purpose and care by a creator who knew exactly what he was doing when he made you.
And this freezes, I think, from the pressure, this sort of exhaustive pressure to constantly create ourselves. You know, a bit like Madonna is constantly reinventing ourself. Instead, we can discover who God created us to be, rather than trying to create ourselves from scratch. We can be whole because Christ gives us this deep sense of purpose.
Area number five that we looked at was the fruit of the spirit. We spent about nine [00:24:00] weeks, one week on each of the fruits of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patient, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and yes, bringing it up at the back is self-control. The one we don't really like to talk about, uh, we discovered that these aren't qualities, uh, we manufacture through effort, but rather they are the natural result of the Holy Spirit's work in our lives.
Sharon said this, if we choose to hang out with God and cooperate with his spirit, inners, these will automatically develop in us, right? So that's what happens. You know, if you hang out with God, you start to develop the fruits of the spirit. But if you're like a brunch. You know, if I take a branch from the apple tree and separate it, that branch is not gonna produce any fruit because it's disconnected from its source.
We need to stay connected, uh, to the life source, to Christ himself for fruit to grow. Fruit was just a biblical [00:25:00] word mean to really, to be successful in these areas, to have a successful Christian life, not a successful life. They are different. Uh, but to have a successful Christian life, a fruitful life, we need to stay connected to God.
And lemme, I mean, let's be honest, these are all good things. I mean, who doesn't want more joy? Right? Or more peace. Like I say, I mean self-control. We tend not to talk about, we don't like to chase that one because it feels, you know, a little bit like hard work. Like we might have to give, uh, something up.
But Dan did that talk, did it very well. Do go check it out. So all of these then I think are essential for our quest for wholeness. If you are a whole person, then you are full of love, you are full of joy, you have a deep divine peace, you are patient. Even when you're under trial, you are kind to others, even if they've not been particularly kind to you.
You are a good person and you are faithful, and yes, you are also gentle [00:26:00] and have self-control. I need that a lot more when I'm around chocolate. The same, uh, we can be whole because the Holy Spirit brings all of these things into our lives. He develops the fruit in us. Finally, number six, we looked at a few different areas, which I would call spiritual disciplines.
And we explored sort of practical ways to nurture this spiritual health within us through things like prayer and fasting and reading our Bible and acts of service. Dan looked at prayer, which, um, got, did you get retweeted by Stormy? Was that right on your prayer talk? Yeah. That, that went down well. So go check out his prayer talk.
Um, he taught us that, you know, prayer isn't about formality or perfection, it's about genuine connection. Just as we grow closer to people, by talking with them regularly, we grow closer to God through consistent communication. Dave helped us understand that [00:27:00] fasting isn't just another diet plan, you know, the latest health craze to keep us healthy and losing weight, but it is a way to give up something good, to focus on something greater, which is our relationship with God.
Anna. Uh, who you saw a few minutes ago reminded us that scripture offers a unique pathway to wholeness that no self-improvement plan can match. Because if I, if I take the best personal development books that are out there on the market, they're all great and wonderful, but the Bible is the only one that is God breeded, which is inspired with divine wisdom for living whole.
And we looked at things like how acts of service can shape us by challenging our inherent selfishness and replacing it with a spirit of generosity and compassion. The words of Jesus said, always stick out to me. Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. That actually being a [00:28:00] servant is not only something that you can do once you are secure, especially in your identity in Christ, but it is mandated.
You want to be whole. You have got to be a servant. So we can be whole because we are in relationship with a God who actually wants us to be whole. It is his desire for us to grow into his wholeness, to grow into this image that Christ has for us. So that's a quick overview of what we looked at, uh, so far, and you can see why it took us 23 weeks to do that, right?
There's a lot of stuff in there and I've only just sort of scratched the surface of some of the things that we've covered. So what's the next stage on our journey? We have spent a lot of time looking at spiritual health, building this strong spiritual foundation. So we're now ready to explore the second phase.
If you remember, we had spirit on the tree and now we are gonna be [00:29:00] looking at soul. So let me give you a simple definition of the soul. What is the soul? And for the purposes of our time together going through this, we're just gonna simply say that our soul is made up of our mind, our will, and our emotions.
Okay? Now, when your spiritual health is thriving, your mind, your thought patterns change, your emotional responses become a lot more balanced, and your decision making processes, your will, well that improves. Remember, connected self-control. That's because there is a profound connection between strong spiritual health and how our mind and our emotions and our will, our decision making all pan out in life.
So when Christ lives in us, when our identity is secure in him, when we're walking by the spirit and producing the fruits of the spirit, we're equipped with the resources we need to address the mental and emotional challenges we face, which is in a, [00:30:00] is a very different place to be than just trying to figure out all this stuff for myself.
So over the coming weeks, we are gonna look at this topic much more deeply. We're gonna look at things like, how can I let go of the past? Right? What does the Bible talk about? What does the Bible mean when it talks about transformation coming from renewing our minds? One of my favorite topics, we're gonna look at emotional resilience.
We're gonna look at the topic of gratitude and the power of hope. And next week, Sharon is gonna kickstart the whole thing with the all important topic of forgiveness. So there's a lot of good stuff coming, let me tell you. Uh, well I know it's good stuff 'cause I've seen the teaching notes. So you're definitely gonna wanna stay connected.
So as we move forward into exploring, uh, this whole idea, lemme give you three practical steps. Number one. If you have missed some all, all of the spiritual [00:31:00] health section, uh, check it out on the website, www.crowd.church, uh, where all the talks are available. Just click on the becoming whole series and all those talks will come out.
I particularly would recommend that you listen to 17 to 21, which are the ones all about identity. This is a great place to start. Number two. It takes some time this week to assess where you think you are on a spiritual health level, right? Is the trunk of your tree strong? How's prayer? How's your, uh, time in the word?
Uh, are you connected to God? Do you feel connected to him on the fruits of the spirit? Do you, where are you on those? Do you, are there any areas that need strengthening? Right? Uh, where's your peace at? Where's your joy at, right? So spend some time praying through that. Just pick one for now, um, and pray about it.
Read your Bible study. What does God have to say about that? And allow the Holy Spirit [00:32:00] to begin to work in you on it. And number three, make sure you stay with us, obviously, uh, as we carry on, uh, this series of wholeness. We've learned a lot, let me tell you. But there is still a fair bit to learn. It is, like I said at the start, this perpetual cycle of transformation that we live in when we allow the Holy Spirit to build these truths in us.
And you may even want to consider joining one of our midweek small groups, whether in person or online. Uh, as we work through these things together, it's always great to do it with people. Um, now remember, becoming whole is not about perfection. It's not about scoring a hundred on the perfect ter. It's about progress.
It's about allowing God to restore every aspect of who, who you are to his original design. If we think back to the tree metaphor, if the roots and the trunk are healthy, the branches, the leaves, the fruits. Will naturally [00:33:00] flourish. That's why we started with the spiritual health before going on to these other topics.
But I am super, super excited to carry on, like I say, the journey. Um, I need this teaching as much as anyone else. Uh, like I say, I've seen the notes, I've been blessed by them already. Uh, I need to allow God to bring this and continue to develop this in me. So whether you're joining us for the first time or you've been here since the beginning, my prayer for you, my prayer for me is that we will experience this complete and abundance.
Nothing missing, nothing broken whole in every way, life that Jesus brings us. Uh, so amen. And back to the.
Anna Kettle: Wow. Well, where'd you begin swimming all that up? I mean, that was like a proper whistle stop tour, wasn't it? Of like, oh yeah. Almost 12 months of teaching that we did. But to be honest, I love that because it reminded me of a lot [00:34:00] of stuff that we covered last year and just a really nice refresh. And I think whether you've watched it all when it happened or, or you are coming new to this, I just think there was so much in that.
What did you find really stuck out for you, Sharon? Was there anything that jumps out?
Sharon Edmundson: Oh, um, oh, so many things. I think it was just hearing some of the snips from talks I did myself was actually quite good because, did I say that? I think partly because when I do a talk, I do a lot of research, I spend a lot of time in scripture and so it, it goes in really deep.
So just mentioning some bits like that, it's almost like, oh yeah, it's opened up this whole stuff that I studied and I'm like, oh yeah, that's really cool. Um, but yeah, there were so many things. Yeah. Um, I got a question for you actually. Go on. Just thinking of the first point on our identity in Christ, um, 'cause I feel like this, it was a very whistle stop tour with a few stories, but I do like stories, [00:35:00] so I thought to do with identity.
How would you say that God has changed your life in, in that aspect?
Anna Kettle: Oh, that's a big question, isn't it? Um. I think for me personally, I think God's changed and continuing to change my identity in a whole number of ways actually. But I think perhaps one way I can like look back now in my forties and like, you know, I've been walking with God, what pretty much I've known about God since I was a child, but been walking with God really since my early twenties, since I was a student.
And I kind of think either looking back over the last 20 or so years, 25 years, um, probably the thing that I think I can really see has changed in my identity is that I'm less driven and less driven by self effort. Like I think when I was younger, a younger adult, when I was a student and a graduate, I was very driven by kind of [00:36:00] my own success and needing to achieve, get the best grades, get the best job, make the most money, and those kind of su superficial markers of success I guess that Matt was talking about at the start.
And I feel like. I can look, I don't know kind of how it's happened and I guess God over the time works on you and as you spend time with God, you become more like him and more of his route appears in your life. But I think somewhere along the line I can see that I've become a much less driven by person in terms of much less self effort and striving and reaching for something that is never quite attainable like that, that next thing all the time.
I feel like I've learned contentment in my circumstances where I am. Um, and yeah, I just think it's a much more joyful place to live. Mm-hmm.
Sharon Edmundson: In the comments you mentioned about balance, so how do you get the balance in that scenario where you're not being [00:37:00] driven to achieve, but also. Um, see, in my thinking, the Christian life's not about just being passive and not trying to do your best, or not trying to, you know, if God's placed you in a, a particular field, surely we're to do a good job there.
Do you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. So how do you get the balance between those things? Having a secure identity, but also doing well? Or do you think that we don't need to do well?
Anna Kettle: I think we do need to do well. I, I feel like it's important to be the best people we can be in our workplace and our families and our friendships in every sphere of life that we occupy.
Really. I think I, I personally wanna give glory in every area of my life, um, in how I live, but I, it's not about my success, um, in the same way. So I, I don't know, really. I, I suppose it's. For me, it's like, it's about a change of values rather [00:38:00] than the behaviors. It's the thing that's driving me and motivating me isn't that stuff that Matt was talking about around self effort and who I am and how I look and you know, how good I look to other people and you know what other people think of me or my need to feel important in myself.
It, I've learned to be secure in those things, in who I know God has made me to be and who God says I am. And so it's like that, it's almost like that duck, you know, that paddles really fast under the water. That's not happening in my brain anymore. Yeah. Because I'm like, I'm actually at peace. So I don't necessarily think it always means, sometimes it means you do things differently, but I think sometimes it's more about how you're thinking and what your internal monologue is.
Certainly for me that that's very true. It's like I'm at peace. Um, I. I'm less driven internally and there's not this constant like internal narrative going on that doesn't really align up with what God says. Yeah. So it's
Sharon Edmundson: like different [00:39:00] motivation. Yeah. The motivator. Yeah. So rather than being motivated to try and gain a sense of identity, you've already got the sense of identity, which frees you up to then be able to do just a good job for God's glory.
Would that be a fair sum up?
Anna Kettle: Yeah. I feel like that's what it's probably like for me. I mean, what, what do you guys think? What do you think, Matt?
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, I would say the same thing. I think it's a really interesting tension, I think in Christianity where we talk about how faith is not based on works, right? Or our salvation is not based on works.
Mm-hmm. Um, so you can't earn your way into heaven. Right. You just, you, it's one of the clear things of scripture. It is a gift. Grace is a gift. Salvation is a gift. It doesn't matter what you do or don't do, you can't earn your way into heaven. And there are a lot of faith out there that think you have to do good works to earn God's favor, right?
So you have to do something to get something. [00:40:00] Christianity is unique in the sense that actually that thing which you're trying to strive for is given to you from day one salvation. And so out of that you do works, right? So it's not like we become lazy. Um, but that principle is applies in everything. So if we're doing, if I'm working hard to get a career to form a sense of identity.
That's, that's where it's backwards, right? Because Christ has given us that identity. So if I take that identity that Christ has given me, and I work in a way that glorifies him, and I work really hard and I achieve things, that's a very different place to be. Because one is I'm, one I'm doing is try and get something the other, I understand what I've been given and I'm doing it as an act of worship out of that, if that makes sense.
Mm-hmm. And so I think that whole thing can be applied to wholeness about trying to achieve things in life. It's like, [00:41:00] it's not that that in itself is wrong. It's like it's the heart, it's the reason behind it.
Sharon Edmundson: Mm-hmm. So the question I started with for Anna, I'll send that over to you, which was, um, oh, what was it about?
Yeah. How, in what ways would you say that God has particularly changed your. A sense of identity, you know, which particular aspect has had the biggest impact to you?
Matt Edmundson: I, one of the reasons I was really keen that we did this series is because of this very topic of identity. I think before I became a Christian, I became a Christian until later on in my teens.
You know, I was 18, 19 years old and I was quite an insecure guy. Um, I, I'd done a lot of things in my life. I traveled I'd, I'd worked hard academically, I'd studied martial arts, all to try and build a sense of confidence and I'd achieved certain things. You know, I, I did, I did well in, in [00:42:00] different, in different arenas.
And it's, it wasn't a bad thing I'd, but I was super insecure. Um, and that manifested itself in my relationships, especially with, you know, like girlfriends at the time. I was a, I was a tow rag and I can only apologize, you know, it is just, I just wasn't great. And, um. And it manifested in me in other ways.
And one of the things that happened when I became a Christian, um, was that way that I tried to achieve a sense of identity hadn't necessarily left me, if that makes sense. Throughout my first year at university. Um, well, I'd, I'd just become a Christian and I was trying to figure all this out. I was still a bit of a pig.
I'm not gonna lie. And I, I, I, you know, I had a lot of zeal and a lot of passion, but no kind of common sense, no kind of, uh, empathy for people. And so I then, by the time my second year at university, I started to [00:43:00] understand. This concept of who I was in Christ, right? And books like Victory Over the Darkness came out by Neil t Anderson.
I don't you remember the, I, I mean I know you remember it 'cause it's a weird book we still give out now. Um, and I remember things like that utterly changed my life because I understood all of a sudden that actually my confidence could be found in him, not in my achievements. And so the thing that I was looking for, I'd already been given through Christ.
I just had to, had to receive that. Right. And so I started to become much more confident. Um, I was a lot less insecure, um, almost overnight in many ways. Um, I became a lot more confident in my Bible. I became a lot more confident in the promises that God had for me. Um, I didn't have to stress out too much about all of those things.
I could trust him, um, to the point where I'd start doing things like at uni, I would, before an exam, I would take the exam paper. I dunno if you're allowed to do [00:44:00] this. Uh, but I, well, I did, I would take the exam paper, which back then was a physical paper. I don't even know if they're still on physical paper.
But, um, I took the paper and I put it on the floor and I would put my foot on top of the paper. Um, because the Bible would say, every place you have put your foot, I have given you right now, this is a really stupid thing. And I, there's no magic formula here. It was just me in my head acknowledging that it didn't matter what happened with this exam, that actually the grace of God was with me regardless of what I did or didn't face.
And I'd pick up the exam paper and I'd carry on my exam and everyone thought, what is this loo lytic doing? But it, it was just my way of going, actually it's been great to study for this, but my identity is in him. My future is in him. I dunno if that answers your question.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah, that's great. It does. I think for me, uh, so many, um.
I remember when I first came to Liverpool, I came to do, it's like a gap year that the church used to do. And I, I've mentioned this before, [00:45:00] um, it was me giving God one last chance. 'cause I was like, this faith stuff just not working. I feel there's no freedom. All this stuff I read about, I'm not experiencing it.
So God, you need to sort me out. And, um, one of the things that I, I think God took me on a journey during that year, and some of it was to really be able to feel the problem within me so that he could then show me what his solution was. And one of the things was I just realized it's like I can't, I just can't do the right thing.
I, I had this kind of just internal block of like, no matter how hard I try, I just don't seem to be able to do what I want to do. And I was like, it's because I'm bad on the inside. And then God showed me a verse about, um, how he makes this a new creation. And, uh, he showed me that actually he'd. When we give our lives to him, it's like he makes us new on the inside.
Like a new new birth. New, yeah, new creation. And I was just like, [00:46:00] oh. So that's what that means. And it's like, oh, I can, I can do the right thing because God has changed me internally. And that one, the blockage was in my head. The reality was that I was a new creation, but I was still thinking like I was an old one.
So I was acting like the old person. Um, and then other ones, um, just things like where it says that he became sin so that I could become the righteousness of God and just like, oh, he's swapped my sin and now he's given me like this. Yeah, fabulous clothing of righteousness so that when God looks at me, he sees that I'm right, not because of anything that I've done, but because of what he's done.
Um, another verse is like, um, that said, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. And, um, but paraphrased, like if he did that when we were sinners, how much more will he give us now? And I think those things just helped me realize that, oh, um, God sees me as his [00:47:00] child and even when I was far off, he, he laid down his life, so now he sees me as his child, so of course he's gonna, you know, give me all that I need.
Um, yeah. So those were like really big things at that part of my journey. And I think sometimes the big things we remember the most, don't we?
Anna Kettle: Yeah. And I, I think what's so interesting about some of those things that you shared, Sharon, is just. The fact that it's about God doing what you can do for yourself.
You know, it's like him swapping your sinfulness for his sinlessness and you know, it's that trade off. And, and I think that's the thing, 'cause we talked a little bit, um, and Matt shared before about this whole idea of Christianity being different to any other self-help book that you can read out there.
And, and I think that's the thing. It's like you can read about how to improve yourself and you can do lots of work, but ultimately it's all about striving. And I know this 'cause I've done plenty of these self-help things over the years. And you [00:48:00] can get like a, you know, you can improve yourself a little bit fraction by fraction.
Put in better habits, eat better, exercise more, you know, think in a different way. But actually the thing is Christianity is about not leaning more into yourself in your own doing. It's about leaning into God and allowing him to do what you can never do for yourself because you are, yes. Recognizing that without him, there's just a fundamental flaw there that, you know, you can't fix yourself.
All of that brokenness. And I just love that quote that you started with Matt, where it says the definition of biblical horness is nothing missing, nothing broken, complete in every way. And I think, yeah, I'm not capable of becoming that on my own. And I don't think any of us are really, if we're totally honest and really stare ourselves in the face, um, you know, we can become a bit better, can't we, through a lot of striving and self effort.
But yeah, that, that's the thing that really struck me as you were, [00:49:00] you are sharing some of your stories, Sharon, that it's, it's that kind of beyond self effort.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, it is. That's really powerful. I think that it's worth saying that a lot of the self-help stuff in itself is not bad. I'm not saying that self-help is bad.
Um, I've wrote and
Anna Kettle: some of it actually like. Aligns with a lot of what Scripture teaches as well, doesn't it?
Matt Edmundson: Well, I think a lot of it is based on scripture. So you'd look at some of the older teachings, you know, I still think one of the best books ever written was How to Make Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie.
I think it's one of the books that I've given my kids to read, um, that would be classed as probably one of the original self-help books, think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. All of these kind of things, they're not in himself bad things and they do help people, but self-help becomes that. It's all about, like you say, it's all about self.
And I think the way I read it in scripture is there are things that I have to do. Yes. But I do them in the [00:50:00] context of a God who gives me grace and who gives me strength and who gives me insight. So the source of that power is not my willpower, the source is God. Um, and I think, uh, that's the sort of the important distinction really.
So self-help I don't necessarily have an issue with, but I think if that's all you've got, you've got a fundamental problem.
Anna Kettle: Yeah. It's like it goes so far, but isn't taking the whole distance almost, isn't it? That that's what I found too,
Sharon Edmundson: I think as well because Christianity, although we do change and we grow, it's not about, um, it's not just about becoming better people, it's about relationship with God, which I don't think you really get with self-help stuff.
Do you?
Um. I've got another question to do with, you're full of them tonight, aren't you? Oh, I like questions. Welcome to my life. Yeah. Have we got time? Lots of questions. Yeah, we've got time for one more I think, haven't we?
Matt Edmundson: Okay. I think you like to [00:51:00] ask the questions 'cause it just means you don't control of the conversation.
Answer. Yeah.
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah, I have been answering them as well. I'd like to point out. Okay. So this one, it is partly, I like the personal stories because it just, I think it brings it to life a bit more, doesn't it? So we were talking about the fruits of the spirit and like if we hang out with God, then those fruits naturally come to us.
So I was wondering, is there any particular fruit which has been more significant for you, as in the before and the after?
Anna Kettle: That's a good question. I mean, I'd say I've probably grown in all of them to varying degrees and probably need to continue to grow in many of them. If you ask any of my family. Um, I feel like for me, one that I've really had to learn is like that whole area of patience and self-control.
Like, I think my natural tendency in the flesh is to have low level of patience with other people and to quickly fly off the [00:52:00] handle if things don't go my way. And I do feel like I've, I'm not a complete work, but I feel like I've really improved in those areas. Um, like just this last week, somebody drove into the side of my car and like basically totaled it and, um, yeah.
And um, yeah, and things like that. And, and then the, the driver like basically refused to accept any, like literally went into the side of me on the roundabout and then refused to accept any liability. And I was like. You know, like my first instinct is like, ah, like, you know, are you serious? But I feel like I'm learning in those moments where I'm under pressure, like whether it's at work or it's in an extreme situation like that, or it's just my little boy not doing what I'm asking him to for that tense time and where, you know, you need to be getting ready for school or whatever.
All of those situations, the big and the small, I feel like I'm learning and have got much better at just reacting with [00:53:00] more patience and control and calmness and the things that would really rattle me and emotionally throw me off for days, don't anymore. And like Andy, my husband said this week, oh, you dealt with that like car thing really well, you know?
And I was like, I did, didn't I? But I, I'm not saying perfect, but yeah. Yeah. I, I think you can look back and it's, it's little by little is it, but over time you can see a growth and a change. What about you guys? Shall
Sharon Edmundson: I go next? Just so that I can show I'm not avoiding answering the questions. You shall go.
Okay. So I think for me it would be peace because I think before I came up to Liverpool to do this year team, I think my mind was just constantly on the go with the opposite of peace and it was just a complete mess and unsettled. And I think I could look peaceful on the outside, but as one of my friends sort of said to me, she's like, you know, you look fine on the outside, but on the inside you're really not.
It's like, yeah, [00:54:00] that's very true. And um, I think as well, I used to worry about everything, whereas now I do feel like the outside generally matches the inside in terms of. Being peaceful. And that's not to say that I never worry. There are occasions when just something will, just, a particular situation will just sort of, I dunno, press my buttons.
And then it takes a bit of, you know, a bit of, have to go back and I can understand that, have, have to go back and pray and just kind of recenter myself to get that peace back. And sometimes it, you know, it takes a bit of time. But definitely that feeling of peace is amazing compared to what it used to be.
So, yeah.
Matt Edmundson: Uh, back to you. And I'm, I'm very grateful for, for that. 'cause I think you need a lot of that being married to me. You do very well. Um, what would I say? I'd probably say joy. Um, I, I think I, [00:55:00] I, I'm, I, I don't know. I just, I can seem to find the joy in. Uh, situations. I like to laugh, although I, I appreciate joy and laughter aren't necessarily the same thing, and I'm, I'm not proposing that they are, but I think Joy has an outworking.
Um, and I know joy is not happiness, but I think if you are a joyful person, you'll outwork what we associate with happiness. Uh, not all the time, but quite often. Um, and so I think that joy is just this force of life that that is a beautiful thing that enables you to look at things in a totally different way, um, and see things totally differently.
Not always, you know, quite often I'm not that joyful when I'm driving my car. Um,
Sharon Edmundson: the whole thing of joy is something I've been thinking about a bit more recently, um, because I think. In terms of religion, people generally think, oh, religion squashes [00:56:00] the joy. But then when, um, when we actually look in the Bible, it's like, it talks about so many times about being joyful and you know, like all good things come from God.
And it's like he's given us the ability to have joy because he is joyful. And I, I think that's quite incredible actually. Um, I think some people naturally tend towards joy more than others, but yeah, I think that's something that I would like see. Yeah.
Matt Edmundson: And I, I think you, there are a lot of Christians out there who have been baptized with misery.
Do you know what I mean? And they, they worry it on their face and they walk around like they're just the most miserable people on the planet. And I find that really hard. It's like, I remember the first, when I did Bible school and you had to, you stood up and you did a talk in front of the class. Um. The first talk I ever did at Bible school was called Stop Sucking Lemons.
Just because I was, I'd had so much, I'd had a Nerf of Christians who looked like, you know, on their face, they'd been sucking lemons, like they were the most miserable people on the planet. [00:57:00] And, but here we have the most incredible truth and the most incredible reality about God and about Jesus, and about the whole story and the whole covenant, which we talked about.
Um, and so I can be joyful, you know, and not, and not look like I've been sucking them.
Anna Kettle: And it strikes me that joy isn't just about being happy all the time, right? Like we're talking about something deeper with joy. It's about that ability to, um. Just still feel joyful even when your circumstances don't match up.
Like there's something deeper that wells beyond just, oh, I'm happy 'cause I'm on holiday and all my circumstances look great and my bank account's good and my kids are behaving and all the rest. Like, I feel like when we talk about identity tonight, I, the other thing that strikes me is that I can see a shift in that when things don't go well, like just that reveals where our hearts really lie often, doesn't it?
It, it often reveals kind of [00:58:00] what's really lurking under surface. We can fall ourselves a lot of the time, can't we? That we're okay and we're doing fine and we're a bit better than we probably are. And then something throws, you know, a spanner in the works. Like someone denting your car on the roundabout this week or, you know, I, I think like a few weeks ago we found out at work that a load of jobs in the health system are gonna be at risk.
And um, and those things like. When they suddenly throw you totally off kilty, you realize your identity is more in those things than than it should be. And it actually, as we were talking, I thought, do you know what, another really good example for me is that, you know, as, as I said, like our, you know, I, I recently found out that my job could, I dunno for sure yet, but could be at risk in the next few months.
And, um, I actually saw you and Dan the day that I first found out. Like we went for a lunch in the cafe, um, just to chat about crowd and planning and um, and I was just like, oh yeah, and just had like [00:59:00] found out, you know, today in the press that we might all lose our jobs later this year. And it was kind of like, I didn't wanna be flippant, but I actually was like, I'm okay with this because my identity isn't in that job.
It's a good job and I'm grateful for it, but my worth and my value isn't in doing that job. And I think a few years ago I. That would've rattled me a lot more and I wouldn't have been able to just be say, like blase about it. It's not like I don't want my job or I don't care about it, but it doesn't define me and I don't need it, and I trust God will provide for my, me and my family with or without that job.
That's really cool. You know, he's, and I, I'm kind of like, now I'm like, if that's the right job, then it will still be there and if God wants to me to do something else in this next phase of life, then I'm open to that as well and to moving on to something different. And I, I feel like it's those kind of.
It's your reactions often, isn't it, in those moments of stress that actually show what's really underneath. Yeah. Yeah.
Sharon Edmundson: That's really cool. Uh, I really enjoy all these stories [01:00:00] and, uh, we talked about earlier about the, the conversation normally just peters out. Uh, but it hasn't, and I'm aware of the time, but I know we can just keep going on
Anna Kettle: this one, can't we?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. So I think we do need to finish now. Um, but uh, just to say, you know, if you wanna get in touch in the week, if you've got any prayer requests, um, hopefully the details on how you can. Do that will appear on the screen at some point. And um, like Matt said, we've also got midweek groups on Wednesday, uh, which are either in person or on Zoom, and we're doing an alpha in one of them, which is, uh, a course about the basics of Christianity.
If you are not sure what it is or if you've got questions and it's very relaxed and non-threatening and you can just come and ask you questions and listen and chat or, uh, we have sometimes have people that turn up, don't put their camera on, don't speak. You are equally welcome to do that as well if you don't feel confident enough to put your camera on.
Um, yes. So anything else from you? [01:01:00]
Matt Edmundson: Uh, I would just say, you know. Wholeness is God's plan. Um, and that's the, that is the fundamental starting point. You can look at life and go, I feel broken with this, this, and this. And you go, well, okay, but wholeness is God's plan. So God, we're gonna have to do something here.
It may take 10 days, it may take 10 years. But I think fundamentally the belief, the understanding that wholeness is God's plan for you and your life is life changing and just allowing that process to happen for the rest of your life. 'cause let's be real, it's gonna take the rest of your life. Um, we're all a mess, you know, it's just not gonna sort out overnight.
Um, but just stick with it and stick with God and, and, and just believe actually we can be whole people. Mm-hmm.
Sharon Edmundson: Any last thoughts from you, Anna?
Anna Kettle: Um, no, not really. I think Matt summed it up pretty nicely there. Um, so I don't really [01:02:00] have anything else to add, but, um, it's probably worth just saying what's happening next week, isn't it?
Sharon Edmundson: Yeah. You've got me again next week, I think, three weeks in a row actually. Uh, so next week I'm gonna be talking about one of my favorite subjects, which is forgiveness, which I have done before, but I will hopefully be putting, you know, a few new slants on it. Uh, but yeah, a fantastic subject I think, and can be totally life changing.
So join us next week.
Matt Edmundson: Yeah, absolutely.
Sharon Edmundson: But um, yeah, I think that's it for tonight. So, goodbye. Thanks for joining [01:03:00] us.