CROWD Church Livestream

The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats Explained

Ever walked past someone in need and hoped someone else would help? This one is about the things we don't do.

About this episode

We are continuing the Jesus the Revolutionary series, and this week Ade Birkby looks at the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25:31-46, the last thing Jesus taught His disciples before He was arrested. Ade makes the case that we are sorted not by what we believe or say, but by how we treat the people most of us overlook, and that the goats are condemned not for cruelty but for apathy, for the good they simply never did. Hosts Matt Edmundson and Anna Kettle pick it up afterwards in Conversation Street, asking what a successful Christian life actually looks like and who the "least of these" are in an ordinary week.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome to Crowd Church
• 01:20 Live Lounge and reading the comments
• 03:30 Remembrance Sunday and a prayer of thanks
• 06:38 The talk begins, what the research says about how we treat the poor
• 09:10 Reading Matthew 25:31-46
• 12:00 The context, why sheep and goats were separated at night
• 13:30 Hospitality as life or death, and "the nations" meaning the Gentiles
• 15:10 The Son of Man and the true shepherd (Daniel 7, Ezekiel 34)
• 17:20 God's very different measure of success
• 18:40 Holiness that doesn't keep records
• 19:40 The sin of omission, accused of what they didn't do
• 21:10 Jesus becomes the least of these
• 22:16 Conversation Street begins, how do we measure success?
• 27:38 Deep roots and the parable of the sower
• 28:39 Leading and lagging measures of a Christian life
• 32:29 Three depths of belief
• 40:25 The starfish story
• 42:45 Why giving your time changes you
• 44:00 Help, thanksgiving, generosity, a chain reaction
• 46:59 Do not grow weary in doing good
• 49:20 Wrap and Live Lounge

Key references

• Matthew 25:31-46, the sheep and the goats, Jesus separating the nations by how they treated the hungry, the stranger, the sick and the imprisoned (the main passage)
• Daniel 7:13-14, the Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven, given authority over all nations
• Ezekiel 34:12, God Himself promising to shepherd and rescue His scattered flock
• 1 John 3:18, "let us not love with words or speech, but with actions and in truth"
• Micah 6:8, "to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God"
• James 2, what good is faith without deeds, can such faith save them

Quotes from the talk"Theirs is a sin of omission. They're not being accused of murdering or stealing or breaking the Ten Commandments. They're being accused of what they didn't do." - Ade Birkby"The righteous aren't keeping records. They didn't help people because they wanted to get something back. They simply saw a need and they acted in love." - Ade Birkby"He didn't just sympathise with suffering, He lived it. He died for the least of us. He died for the most of us. Quite frankly, those two terms aren't in His vocabulary." - Ade BirkbyConversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

It opened with a question from Sharon in the comments, how do we measure success, and is success really about loving God and loving other people? Ade answered that you measure it by the fruit, by the output, and he borrowed a bit of business language to make the point. The fruit of the Spirit is a lagging measure, something you only see after the fact, so he flipped it to the leading measures we can actually check day to day, are you spending time in the Word, praying, plugged into a community, serving it with a servant's heart. Anna agreed, adding that a successful Christian life for her looks like growing more loving, more patient, more generous, and being quicker to forgive and slower to anger, the kind of thing that only shows up over time.

Several people helped sharpen what "success" means. Ellis pointed out that loving God and loving others is the greatest command, that a bit of honest self-reflection is a good thing, and that "Jesus mentioned visiting, so this doesn't cost a penny". Warren offered a definition worth keeping, "a successful Christian life is faithful to God and obedient to His word, and little is much when God is in it". Will Sopwith told a story from a kids' club where children were desperate to catch the leader's eye and show off their good behaviour for a reward, and asked whether we do the same with God, because non-transactional giving does not come naturally.

Matt drew out three depths of belief, believing something that changes nothing (even the demons manage that), living your life by a belief, and living by it even when it costs you, and the parable tests the third. When the room turned to who the "least of these" actually are, Anna made the point that it is often not the obvious person, it might be a teammate having a hard week, the homeless person on the walk from the station, or the struggling single mum whose child is in your kid's class. And she added that giving your time and getting your hands dirty is usually worth more than sending money from a distance, both for the person and for your own heart.

Ade left a challenge about Christmas, that charities turn volunteers away in December while going short the rest of the year, so don't be the "Christmas Christian". Ryan brought up the people in nursing homes we never think about and the loneliness epidemic among the elderly. Matt told the starfish story, the girl throwing stranded starfish back one at a time who can't save them all but makes a difference to that one, as an answer to feeling paralysed by the scale of the need. He also shared that he has visited a non-churchgoing neighbour every week for five or six years, often wondering if it helps, and the answer he keeps landing on is that what matters is showing up.

Anna closed with an encouragement for anyone leaving the talk feeling they ought to do more. For those already serving faithfully, the word is simply do not grow weary in doing good, keep going and keep being faithful. And for the rest of us, Ade's question is a good place to start this week, where are the least of these in my life, and what can I do to help?

Links

• Explore more and join the conversation at crowd.church
• https://www.crowd.church/talks/parable-of-the-sheep-and-the-goats

Crowd Church, a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Does saying Jesus is the only way to God sound arrogant? Here is why it might be the most welcoming thing ever said.

About this episode

Sharon Edmundson looks at one of the boldest things Jesus ever said, that He is the only way to God. It is a claim that can feel narrow and exclusive to modern ears, so we explore why it was first spoken as a comfort rather than a challenge, and what it actually means for anyone weighing up faith for themselves. This is part of our Jesus the Revolutionary series, the run where we sit with some of His tougher teachings and ask what they really mean.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome and the Live Lounge
• 02:59 The gnocchi story, is one way arrogant
• 05:00 I am the way, a relationship not a rulebook
• 06:13 Liar, lunatic or Lord
• 08:08 Our deepest problem, separation from God
• 09:37 Why it has to be Jesus
• 11:57 Why pick and mix never satisfies
• 13:30 What about those who have never heard
• 15:31 Words of comfort, not a challenge
• 17:15 Conversation Street

When One Way Sounds Arrogant

Sharon opens with a holiday in France, where an Italian friend offered to teach a group of them to make gnocchi. Her job was cutting the tomatoes, and she was told firmly there was only one right way to do it, which made no sense to her because it all ended up blitzed in the same pan anyway.

How do you feel when someone says their way is the only way? Arrogant? Narrow-minded? The verse at the heart of this talk can sound like exactly that.

"I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." (John 14:6)

In a culture that values many paths and many points of view, that one little word "the" can feel like a closed door.

A Relationship, Not a Rulebook

Other religions and philosophies tend to say "this is the way" and hand you a set of rules or a way of life to follow. Jesus says something stranger. He says "I am the way", offering Himself rather than a to-do list.

So faith here is less a system to work through and more a relationship to step into.

"He offers Himself, not just a list of things to do. He offers a relationship rather than a system or a roadmap." (Sharon Edmundson)Liar, Lunatic or Lord

Some people are happy to file Jesus away as a good moral teacher and leave it there. Sharon borrows the well-known line from the writer C.S. Lewis, who argued that the claims Jesus made do not leave that option open. Either He was lying, or He was deluded, or He was telling the truth about who He is.

Lewis put it like this. Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The one thing it cannot be is moderately important.

The Problem Underneath Everything

Why would Jesus claim to be the only way? Because He is answering our deepest problem, and it is not the one we usually name. It is not the economy, or politics, or artificial intelligence, or other people being difficult.

The Bible's word for the real problem is that without Jesus we are all spiritually dead. Death in the Bible means separation. Just as physical death separates the body and the spirit, spiritual death is being cut off from a relationship with God.

What causes that gap is what the Bible calls sin, a religious-sounding word that simply means missing the mark, going our own way, and shutting God out. Ephesians describes it, and Romans puts it plainly, that the result of sin is death.

Why It Has to Be Jesus

Could God not just overlook it and let us off? Sharon uses the picture of a courtroom. If someone had seriously harmed your family and then asked the judge to drop it because they had also done plenty of good things, we would not call that justice. Doing good does not cancel out doing wrong.

So Jesus steps in as the one go-between, the bridge between us and God. He takes the penalty Himself by dying in our place, and because He is perfect, death could not hold Him. It is no more arrogant than a doctor saying type 1 diabetes needs insulin and not paracetamol. If it is actually true, it is not narrow to say so.

Why Pick and Mix Never Satisfies

Sharon names something many of us do. We like to build our own spirituality the way we fill a pick and mix at the cinema, keeping the bits we enjoy and leaving the bits we do not. A little mindfulness here, a few crystals there, a carol service at Christmas.

The appeal is obvious. We get to design something that never asks anything hard of us. The trouble is that a faith we curate ourselves can only ever confirm what we already believe. It can never challenge us or take us anywhere new.

What About Those Who Have Never Heard

This is the honest question the talk does not dodge, and Sharon is clear she does not have a tidy answer. She lays out three views that Christians hold, all argued from the Bible, and invites people to weigh them for themselves.

• The Exclusive view says a person needs to consciously hear about Jesus and believe, drawing on passages like Romans 10:14.
• The Inclusive view says someone who never had the chance to hear, but sincerely sought God, may still be saved through Jesus even without knowing His name, drawing on Romans 2:12-15.
• The Judgment According to Knowledge view says God does not condemn people for information they never had, and judges them by the truth that was actually available to them.

Sharon flagged this as one to carry into Conversation Street rather than wrap up neatly.

Words of Comfort, Not a Challenge

To us these words can feel like a challenge, but in their original setting they were a comfort. Jesus said them in an upper room in Jerusalem, the night before He was killed, to a group of frightened and confused friends.

He had told them He was leaving and that they could not come with Him yet. They said, in effect, we do not even know where you are going, how can we know the way? And that is when He said, I am the way.

The brutal death He was about to walk into was the very thing that would make a relationship with God possible for them. It spoke straight to their biggest fear, and ours, with hope for this life and beyond it.

Conversation Street Highlights

After the talk, Dan Orange and Dave Connolly carried the conversation on with Sharon and everyone in the Live Lounge. A few threads stood out.

Rules versus relationship. This was the thread the whole conversation kept circling. Dave made the point that for Jesus' first followers the old pattern was about keeping the law and the temple rituals, and that Jesus moves them from a set of rules to a living relationship. As he put it, we must be crazy to settle for rules over relationship.

How easily we slip back into earning it. Sharon was honest that there is something in us that wants to earn our way and feel we deserve it. She pointed to Galatians, where Paul asks whether we received God's Spirit by doing good works or by simply believing what we heard. We receive the gift of life by trust, not by performance, and we are meant to keep living that way rather than switching back into trying to earn favour. Ellis named this from the Live Lounge too, admitting that fear can pull us towards rules, something most of us recognise. Sonia added that walking this way is not easy with everything going on around us, and Will said it plainly, that it is not an easy message and it is far more comfortable not to have to make an exclusive decision.

God knows our hearts. Dave told the story of a parent wrestling a protesting toddler into a car seat, where the child ends up strapped in but, as he put it, "I may be sitting down on the outside, but on the inside I am standing up and still yelling." We can go through all the right motions with our hearts somewhere else entirely, and God sees that, so the invitation is to be real with Him rather than just keep Him sweet.

The discipline of prayer and the word. Asked how you find the balance between resting in grace and still walking the way, Dave said that for him it comes down to two habits he was helped to build, reading the Bible and praying. It is not about how much you do, he said, but about genuinely engaging in the process of being with God. Sharon framed it as starting from the heart, beginning the day by asking "God, what are You saying to me today?" rather than ticking off a list of spiritual tasks.

The Chosen and where to start reading. Sharon recommended the TV series The Chosen as a way of picturing Jesus as a real person who laughed, got angry, and hugged people who needed it, while being clear it is a dramatisation and not the Bible itself. For anyone wanting to open the Bible for the first time, Dan suggested starting with John's Gospel, since it is a gentle way in and it was John who described himself as the friend leaning on Jesus. Dan also likened that first step of faith to the leap across the chasm in Indiana Jones, where the bridge only appears once you put your foot out.

Those who have never heard. Alicia raised good questions about people who never get to hear about Jesus, picking up the thread from the talk. The group did not force an answer, landing instead where Dan did, that God is the judge, He is good and true, and there is no one better to leave that question with. Kath shared that the talk helped her understand for the first time how sin and separation and death fit together.

Key references

• John 14:6, the central verse ("I am the way, the truth, and the life")
• John 3:16-17, the invitation open to everyone
• Ephesians 2:1-3, being spiritually dead before God
• Romans 6:23, the result of sin is death
• Romans 3:23-24, all fall short, and are put right freely by grace
• 1 Timothy 2:5, the one go-between between God and people
• Romans 10:14, cited for the Exclusive view
• Romans 2:12-15, cited for the Inclusive view
• Galatians 3, receiving God's Spirit by faith, not by works
• C.S. Lewis, the liar, lunatic or Lord argument
• The Chosen, the TV dramatisation of the life of Jesus

Quotes from the talk"He offers Himself, not just a list of things to do. He offers a relationship rather than a system or a roadmap." (Sharon Edmundson)"We must be crazy to settle for rules over relationship." (Dave Connolly)"In the original context, they weren't actually said as a challenge. They were said as a comfort." (Sharon Edmundson)Links

• Find us and watch again at crowd.church
• Join the Live Lounge to watch live and talk it through with others at go.crowd.church/livelounge
• Next week we stay in John 14:6 and look at Jesus as the truth
• https://www.crowd.church/talks/is-jesus-the-only-way-to-god

Crowd Church - a community for those who might not see the point of church.

There's probably one thing you couldn't imagine letting go of. This conversation is about what that grip does to us.

About this episode

Mike Harris looks at the rich young ruler, the man who had kept all the rules and still walked away from Jesus sad because he couldn't let go of his money.

It's an honest conversation about the things that get the biggest claim on our time, our trust and our wallets, and why that's rarely the stuff we'd point to in someone else first.

Mike, Matt and Ade dig into self-sufficiency, grace, and the freedom that comes from seeing everything you have as a gift rather than something you earned.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome and a hello to everyone in Live Lounge
• 04:58 Elon Musk, the first trillionaire, and what that much money actually looks like
• 06:30 Mark 10 and the man who comes running to Jesus
• 09:00 Why Jesus starts with "no one is good"
• 11:30 The idol hiding behind a good, moral life
• 14:00 Paul's radical idea of generosity in 2 Corinthians 8
• 18:00 Loved before the world began, from Ephesians 1
• 22:34 Conversation Street begins
• 24:00 Ellis realises he's the rich one
• 27:00 Ade on self-sufficiency and treating salvation like a purchase
• 30:00 Job, and learning that everything you have is a gift
• 35:00 Matt on asking "what's my response?" rather than pointing at the wealthy
• 40:00 An honest word about the prosperity gospel
• 45:00 Psalm 118:8 and where we run when things get scary

Key references

• Mark 10:17-22, the rich young ruler (also told in Matthew 19 and Luke 18)
• 2 Corinthians 8:12-14, giving until there's equality
• Ephesians 1:4-8, chosen before the world began
• Psalm 118:8, taking refuge in the Lord
• Philippians 4:19, God meeting our needs
• John 3:16, the God who gives
• The book of Job, via The Bible Project
• Timothy Keller on the first commandment

Quotes from the talk"Jesus had everything, and rather than seek equality, Jesus gave up everything so that we who deserved nothing could have everything He deserved." - Mike Harris"God is not against us being rich, but when we are rich, He wants to know that this is a gift from Him." - Mike Harris"You can't give away your God. So if money is your god, you can't give it away." - Matt EdmundsonWhat this isn't

This isn't a message about money being wrong, and it isn't anyone at Crowd asking you to give your money away or to give it to the church.

It's a much simpler question than that. Where might God be leading you to be generous this week, with your time, your things or your money?

Links

Find out more and join the conversation at crowd.church.

What's the Story, the Crowd Church podcast where people share their story of faith, is at crowd.church and on all the usual podcast players.

Crowd runs an Alpha Course exploring the big questions of faith. The current group is wrapping up, with a new course starting in the new year. Details are on the website.

Crowd Church - a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Ever felt like life doesn't really start until you've found the one, or that a wedding ring would finally fix the loneliness? This one is about that.

About this episode

We are continuing the Jesus the Revolutionary series, and this week Dave Connolly looks at what Jesus actually says about marriage and singleness in Matthew 19:1-12. Dave takes on the cultural lie that someone out there will complete us, and walks through why relationships are a gift rather than the source of our identity, security or salvation. The hard stuff is here too, marriage breakdown, divorce, the pressure single Christians often feel, with a clear caveat that faithfulness never means tolerating abuse. Hosts Matt Edmundson and Anna pick it up afterwards in Conversation Street, with three generations of marriage in the room.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome to Crowd Church
• 05:03 The talk begins, When Romance Isn't Enough
• 05:27 Matthew 19 and God's design for marriage
• 08:31 Marriage is covenant, not a consumer contract
• 10:30 The question isn't "am I happy" but "am I becoming like Jesus"
• 12:56 Christ loved the church, sacrificial love (Ephesians 5)
• 15:43 Singleness and undivided devotion (1 Corinthians 7)
• 16:32 Your value is found in Christ, not your relationship status
• 19:09 Church as family, making room at the table
• 22:30 Marriage points to Christ and the church
• 24:00 Don't ask a person for what only Jesus can give
• 26:23 Come to me, all who are weary (Matthew 11:28)
• 26:54 Christ is enough
• 28:25 Conversation Street begins
• 31:41 Is there really just one person for you?
• 36:15 Matt's word-of-knowledge story
• 37:30 Married "with the exit sign lit up", divorce and grace
• 44:00 Picking up singleness
• 45:14 The loneliness question
• 46:55 Anna on a fruitful season of singleness
• 54:22 What does the Bible say about dating?
• 59:37 Wrap and Live Lounge

Key references

• Matthew 19:1-12, Jesus questioned about marriage and divorce, pointing back to God's original design (the main passage)
• Matthew 19:6, "what God has joined together, let no one separate"
• Ephesians 5:25-32, Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, marriage as a picture of Christ and the church
• 1 Corinthians 7:32-35, singleness and the opportunity it gives for undivided devotion to the Lord
• Romans 12:5, we are one body in Christ and individually members one of another
• Matthew 22:30, "in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage"
• Matthew 11:28, "Come to me, all you who labour and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest"

Quotes from the talk"Your value is not determined by whether somebody has chosen you romantically. Your value is found in Christ." — Dave Connolly"Nobody is better than anybody, because anybody can be the wrong body." — Dave Connolly"There's three people in a Christian marriage, Christ should be right at the centre of it." — Dave ConnollyConversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

There were three generations of marriage round the table, Dave at 47 years with Julie, Matt at 28 with Sharon, and Anna at 13 and a half with Andy. Matt and Sharon actually did their marriage prep with Dave and Julie, and Matt reckons marriage prep is the single best thing you can do before you marry.

The first big question was whether there is just "the one". Anna does not buy it, she doesn't think God's plan for our lives is that narrow, and she pointed to how redeeming he is across the choices people make. She married at 33 and is pretty sure it would not have worked at 21, because both she and Andy were too immature then, so timing and maturity matter. Matt added a nuance, there may not be one single person you are destined to marry, but once you are married there is only one person to be married to. You choose one, and you act like it. He told the story of a men's meeting where he sensed God flag that someone was having an affair, and the man later told him "God told me the affair's okay because I married the wrong person." Matt's point was simple, God is not going to okay something he has clearly said is wrong.

A lot of the conversation sat with divorce and grace. Dave remembered a divorced woman wondering whether she could ever marry again, and his answer was that God is gracious and kind and does not want us living under judgment. Matt put his own theology plainly, don't get divorced, but if you have, God's grace and redemption are still there and you are not shut out of church life. As he said, there is nothing so broken that God can't redeem. Both of them were careful to carry the caveat that if someone is being abused, the first thing is to get safe.

They were honest that almost anything in a marriage is fixable, but it takes both people wanting to work at it. That lifts the shame off anyone who has been trying to carry it alone, one person working hard cannot fix it on their own. Anna shared how she and Andy saw a Christian therapist through a season of grief and baby loss, and how it helped not just that season but every season since. The encouragement that kept coming back was to get support early, be humble and ask for help at the first bump in the road rather than waiting for crisis point.

Singleness got proper airtime too, not as a footnote to the marriage chat. Anna was single through most of her 20s and felt the pressure, from family wanting grandkids and the sense as a woman that time was ticking, and a good deal of it came from Christians who treated marriage as the ultimate goal. What changed things was getting her attitude right, trusting God with the timing and asking what she could do now rather than pining for what she did not yet have. It became a season of real fruitfulness. She lived in a shared house with seven or eight other single adults, several of whom became Christians and are still walking with God, and she named a depth of discipleship and proximity you cannot have once you are married. Intentionality was the word she kept coming back to. Dave and Julie modelled the other side of it, always having single people round after church, not to "represent the singles" but because of who they are, making room at the table.

The last question was about dating "according to the Bible". Dave drew out the very different ancient culture, the move from a man making inroads to betrothal, then preparing a room at his father's house until the father said it was ready, which ties into the second coming and Jesus preparing a place for us. Anna was clear that dating is a modern construction but still valuable, as long as it is done with boundaries, purpose, intentionality, prayerfully, honouring the other person, and with accountability to people you trust. Dave added the Bible's steer about not being unequally yoked, a Christian and a non-Christian will hit real issues, and Anna rounded it off with the observation that you can be unequally yoked even as two Christians, through plain incompatibility. The takeaway they landed on, you are not defined by your relationship status, married or single.

Links

• Explore more and join the conversation at crowd.church
• Curious about faith, or just have a lot of questions? The Alpha Course is running now on Wednesday evenings, and it is still fine to join partway through. Get in touch through the website.

Crowd Church, a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Ever held onto a grudge that felt completely justified, yet somehow it was you who felt worse? This one is about that.

About this episode

We are continuing the Jesus the Revolutionary series, and this week Ade Birkby joins us from North Wales to look at one of the harder things Jesus said, love your enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). Ade starts with the real cost of holding onto resentment, the toll it takes mentally, physically and socially, then digs into what Jesus actually meant, and why forgiveness is something we choose rather than something we feel. Hosts Sharon Edmundson and Mike Harris pick it up afterwards in Conversation Street, where the stories and honest questions keep coming.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome and introductions
• 02:36 The talk begins, the real cost of holding onto resentment
• 16:36 Conversation Street begins
• 18:52 Sharon on not realising she had been holding unforgiveness
• 21:54 Mike on resentment building toward people who had hurt his wife
• 24:03 Sharon's difficult neighbour, and choosing grace over defending herself
• 26:33 A book that helps you feel it before you forgive
• 27:23 Mike on naming the debt you feel you are owed
• 29:35 Corrie ten Boom and the concentration camp guard
• 34:34 The parable of the unforgiving servant
• 41:51 Loving your enemies does not mean being a doormat
• 43:11 Why forgiveness and reconciliation are not the same thing
• 51:09 Ade on the fruit of the Spirit as a simple self-check

Key references

• Matthew 5:43-48, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you (the main passage)
• John 13:34, "love one another as I have loved you", which Ade frames as God's definition of love
• Luke 6:27-28, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who mistreat you
• Matthew 6:14-15, if you forgive others, your heavenly Father will forgive you
• Matthew 5:9, blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God
• Galatians 5:22-23, the fruit of the Spirit, which Ade used as a self-check in Conversation Street
• Matthew 5:23-24, leaving your gift at the altar to go and reconcile first, a verse raised in the chat
• The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Matthew 18), which Sharon tied the teaching back to
• Forgive, Release and Be Free by Joff Day, a book Sharon has recommended for years, on properly acknowledging how you feel before trying to forgive

Quotes from the talk"Resentment can promise protection, but it ultimately imprisons us." — Ade Birkby"Forgiveness stops the cycle of harm for harm, restores relationships, and brings inner peace." — Ade Birkby"Forgiveness is not an emotion but an act of the will enabled by God." — Corrie ten Boom, as retold by Mike HarrisConversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

Sharon opened up about a time she had not even realised she was holding unforgiveness, until someone asked her if she was angry. She had been seeing the person through a lens where everything they did looked bad. When she finally forgave them, it was as though they became an amazing, fabulous person, and yet they had not actually changed at all. Only the way she saw them had.

Mike shared how resentment had built up in him toward people who had been unkind to his wife Deb, people he had never even met. It was Deb who wanted to pray for them first, and he would reluctantly join in. Praying for someone, he found, slowly begins to change your own heart toward them.

A lot of the conversation sat with the gap between stopping the resentment and actually praying for the person. Talita named it well, that it is hard to bridge. Sharon and Mike agreed there is a step we often skip, which is honestly acknowledging how we feel first, rather than squashing it down and trying to jump straight to love. Mike put it in terms of naming the debt, pausing to ask what you actually feel you are owed before bringing it to God.

Ellis was honest about finding it hard to let things go, saying it can feel like you are letting the other person win. Mike's response was that someone has to pay the debt, and the only real answer is remembering how much we ourselves have been forgiven.

The centrepiece was the story of Corrie ten Boom, the Ravensbrück survivor who came face to face, in a church after the war, with one of the cruellest guards from the camp where her sister had died. He asked for her forgiveness. She could not summon it in her own strength, so she prayed, "Jesus, help me," and made the willed choice to take his hand. As she did, she felt God's love flood through her. Mike drew out the point that our own ability to forgive something that deep can be zero, and it is only God enabling us that makes it possible.

The conversation also cleared up two things people often get stuck on. Forgiving someone does not mean being a doormat, as Ade put it, you can step back from toxic or unsafe people, treat them with respect, and still not be obliged to please them no matter what. And forgiveness is not the same as reconciliation. Forgiveness is something you can do in your own heart whatever the other person does, while reconciliation needs change from both sides and is not always safe or appropriate. Alicia added a gracious note here, that forgiveness does not mean you have failed if you cannot forget or reconcile. Ros summed up the heart of it simply, that forgiveness is life-changing, and releasing it is an incredible thing to be able to do.

Ade closed with a tangent that turned into a helpful tool, Galatians 5:22-23. The fruit of the Spirit does not list frustration or grievances, so a simple check in any situation is to ask whether what you are feeling is on that list, and if it is not, there is probably something to deal with.

Links

• Explore more and join the conversation at crowd.church
• Curious about faith, or just have a lot of questions? The Alpha Course is running now on Wednesday evenings, and it is still fine to join partway through. Get in touch through the website.

Crowd Church, a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Dan Orange takes us to one of the most human moments in John's Gospel, the woman dragged in front of Jesus after being caught in adultery, with a crowd already holding their stones. It is a story about shame, about being exposed at your worst, and about what happens when the one person with every right to condemn you chooses not to.

Dan pulls on a thread, the finger of God writing in the dust, and traces the only other places it shows up in the Bible. Along the way he asks a simple question, where does your hope actually sit. Matt Edmundson and Anna Kettle pick it up afterwards in Conversation Street, with the community joining in live.

This one is not about forgiving yourself. It is about receiving the forgiveness God is already holding out to you.

Timestamps

• 00:07 Welcome, and who's in Live Lounge
• 04:08 How Conversation Street works
• 05:58 Reading John 8, and why this passage is a bit controversial
• 07:04 It takes two, so where was the man
• 09:49 The finger of God, and the only other times it writes
• 12:05 What did Jesus write in the dust
• 12:54 Jesus came to fulfil the law, not scrap it
• 16:47 The shame you think is too far gone to forgive
• 18:31 Why the word saved still matters
• 19:51 Conversation Street begins, and taking the shame away
• 23:56 Four people in the story, and the roles we've all played
• 26:15 Why adultery was such a big deal, forgiveness and accountability
• 28:18 A graceless culture, and what "go and sin no more" really means
• 30:26 Does working out right and wrong stress you out
• 33:27 Conviction that frees you rather than catches you out
• 34:14 Failure as a teacher, and not getting trapped by shame
• 37:53 Bringing what's hidden into the light
• 39:08 The religious leaders, and catching other people out
• 45:26 Paul, the Holy Spirit, and why it's easier to turn a moving car
• 48:50 The journey matters more than the destination
• 52:34 King David, consequences, and rebuilding identity on grace
• 55:07 Why Jesus bent down instead of picking up a stone
• 56:59 Final thoughts, and what's coming up at Crowd

Key references

• John 8:2-11, the woman caught in adultery, dragged before Jesus (the main passage)
• Exodus 31:18, the Ten Commandments written with the finger of God on tablets of stone, including "you shall not commit adultery"
• Daniel 5, the writing on the wall at Belshazzar's feast, "you have been weighed in the balances and found wanting"
• Matthew 5:17, "I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them"
• John 3:16-17, God sent His Son not to condemn the world but so that it might be saved through Him
• Romans 10:11, "everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame", the verse Dan closed on
• Genesis 3, Adam hiding in the garden, "I hid because I was naked", which Matt tied to the woman's shame
• 2 Samuel 11-12, King David's affair and its consequences, and how Jesus still came through that bloodline
• Acts 16:6-7, the Holy Spirit constraining Paul mid-journey, Matt's picture of God redirecting us as we go
• Dan noted that Wes Huff has spoken about the manuscript history of this passage, and that the aside about being "weighed in the balances and found wanting" is older than the Mumford and Sons song that borrows it

Quotes from the talk"If we're drowning, we need to be saved. We need to be given help. Anything less just isn't going to be enough." — Dan Orange"The men wanted to end this woman's life just to win an argument, but Jesus wanted to save it because He's the Lord of mercy." — Dan Orange"Sometimes we need to fail to see we can't make it on our own." — Dan OrangeConversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

Matt opened by counting the people in the scene, Jesus, the woman, the man who is nowhere to be found, the religious leaders, and the crowd standing by with stones. Anna made the point that most of us have played every one of those parts at some point. Jesus saves His sharpest challenge not for the woman caught in sin, but for the leaders pointing the finger.

That led into something the modern world finds hard to hold together, forgiveness and accountability. Anna said forgiveness is not letting someone off the hook so they can carry on as before, it is being let off the hook so you can be changed by it. As she said, "you're forgiven, but also do better in future". Matt named the culture we actually live in, one that is quick to cancel and slow to show grace, and where "go and sin no more" sounds almost foreign.

The conversation turned honestly to shame. Matt described two ways it traps us, the person who shrugs it off and thinks they have got away with it, and the person so buried in it that they cannot show their face. Dan's encouragement was to bring whatever it is into the light rather than hide it away, naming things like pornography that people carry in secret. "Don't let that shame keep you from Him, because He's seen it anyway. He knows".

Katharine asked whether it gets stressful trying to work out what is right and wrong in God's eyes. The three of them agreed it does not have to be. On the big things, God tends to be clear, and inside those boundaries there is a surprising amount of freedom and choice. Ellis admitted the pressure of not wanting to misread what God is asking. Matt's reply was that it is harder to miss God's will than we fear when our heart is set on pleasing Him, and that God can handle our failure far better than our refusal to move at all.

Alicia added in the comments that "failure can be an effective teacher as long as shame doesn't overtake the impact", and that we can even fail in things that were right to attempt. Matt picked it up, noting how much of his own business life has grown out of what looked like failure at the time.

Dan and Matt both leaned on the idea that it is easier to turn a car when it is moving. Matt told the story of Paul setting out on a mission trip he had prayed over, only to feel the Holy Spirit redirect him along the way. Anna widened it out, saying the longer she lives the less it feels about rushing from A to B and the more it is about the journey itself, like the Israelites learning to trust God across years in the desert.

They did not dodge the hard part. King David committed adultery and worse, and there were real consequences, yet grace and forgiveness were there too, and Jesus still came through that family line. In the same way, the woman would have walked back into a community that knew her story. What had changed was her foundation. Her sense of who she was could now rest on the fact that Christ did not condemn her, that she was no longer defined by her worst moment but called beloved.

Dan closed on the detail that Jesus bent down twice rather than staring the woman down or picking out a ringleader. He let people face their own conscience. The one person in the crowd with the right to throw a stone was the one who sat down instead.

Ade wondered aloud whether Dan was actually an AI, which became the running joke of the night after Dan confessed he barely blinked through his last talk. Alicia confirmed he blinked plenty this time.

Where to go next

• Everything about Crowd Church is at crowd.church.
• We're running Alpha, a relaxed online course for anyone exploring the Christian faith, with room for honest questions. It's not too late to join, and you can register on the website.
• Join us live on a Sunday and stay for Live Lounge, a Zoom room where you can carry the conversation on with real people at go.crowd.church/livelounge.
• Midweek community groups, baptism classes and a new guide on how to read the Bible are all on the website too.

Crowd Church, a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Ever scrolled your feed and felt like everyone else was handed more than you? This one is about that feeling.

About this episode

We are continuing the Jesus the Revolutionary series, and this week Ade Birkby joins us from North Wales to look at the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and how it speaks to comparison culture. It is a story about a master who hands out staggering amounts of money before going away, and what his servants do with what they were given. Ade opens with the very modern problem of comparing our lives to everyone else's online, then shows why the one servant who buried what he had got the wrong end of the stick. Hosts Will Sopwith and Dan Orange pick it up afterwards in Conversation Street.

Timestamps

• 00:07 Welcome and sorting out the tech
• 03:10 Alpha Course and how to get involved at Crowd
• 05:49 Comparison culture and what the research shows
• 07:17 What the UK study reveals
• 08:48 Reading the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30)
• 12:58 What a talent was actually worth, and why the generosity is the point
• 14:59 Why the buried talent was called wicked, and the revolution behind it
• 16:57 The third servant's real failure started with comparison
• 19:30 Messy, risk-taking faith, and the reward that follows
• 20:51 Bringing it back to our own lives
• 23:49 Ade's challenge, it's not what you got, it's how you use it
• 24:13 Conversation Street begins
• 24:25 Dan on doing the next thing God asks, rather than comparing
• 31:26 Ade's own story, saying yes to leadership at Crowd
• 35:16 What messy faith really looks like from the inside
• 42:18 Alicia on testimonies and 20/20 hindsight
• 42:39 Dan's answered prayer, a family holiday they never expected

Key references

• Matthew 25:14-30 — the Parable of the Talents (the main passage)
• Matthew 24 — Jesus foretelling the destruction of the temple, the tense moment just before this parable
• Matthew 25 as a whole — the three parables together (the ten virgins, the talents, and the sheep and the goats), which Ade frames as heart, stewardship and action
• Ecclesiastes 5:19 — being content with your lot as a gift from God
• Psalm 143:10 — "Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God"
• Romans 12:2 — "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind"
• The 1980s film Cannonball Run II, source of Ade's line "it's not what you got, it's how you use it"
• Inspired, the podcast Dan mentioned about everyday Christians around the world

Quotes from the talk"The size of our assignment is completely irrelevant. The integrity of the stewardship of that assignment is everything." — Ade Birkby"God prefers messy, risk-taking faith over this safe, sterile, passive faith." — Ade Birkby"It's not what you got, it's how you use it." — Ade BirkbyConversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

Dan Orange picked up the comparison thread straight away, sharing something he had heard that week on a podcast about everyday Christians. The advice that stuck with him was simple, just ask God what is next and do what is next, rather than looking around at everyone else and measuring yourself against them.

Will Sopwith noticed how eager the servant with five bags of gold was, diving in even though the amount could have felt overwhelming, while the servant who buried his talent seemed to have the wrong picture of the master altogether. Both Will and Dan kept coming back to the same point, that the reward was the same for the two who had a go, because it was never really about the amount.

Ade shared his own story of saying yes when he did not expect to. When he and his wife Sonia came to Crowd, they were worn out and disillusioned after years in various churches, and had decided they would simply attend and nothing more. Eighteen months to two years on, they are running a midweek group, starting a prayer meeting and speaking almost monthly. When the opportunity came and they prayed about it, they knew it was what God was asking, so they said yes.

The idea of messy faith clearly resonated with people watching. Ade offered a helpful angle on it, that the testimonies we admire looked messy from the inside too. The people living them often felt like they were going by the seat of their pants, even when the story sounds clear and tidy afterwards. Alicia caught this well in the chat, commenting that "testimonies have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight", and that it is far easier to see how God was moving once we are out of the fire than while we are still in it.

Dan closed with an answered-prayer story of his own. Last year the family had saved for a holiday in Spain, only for it to be cut short after three days when his wife's mum needed emergency open-heart surgery. Flying home, they prayed together as a family for the chance to go away again the following year. His mother-in-law recovered well, and months later a customer unexpectedly offered the family his villa, with someone else giving money for flights and spending two weeks before they left. Dan's takeaway was to write these things down, so you can look back and see God's answers to prayer.

Links

• Explore more and join the conversation at crowd.church
• Curious about faith? The Alpha Course is running now, and it is still fine to join partway through. Get in touch through the website.

Crowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.

When You Feel Like You Don't Belong

Ever walked into a room where everyone else seems to fit, and you're the one on the edge?

What this talk is about

Most of us have felt like an outsider at some point. The party where you got left standing on the edge, the new job, the group where everyone else seemed to know the rules. Mike Harris starts there, with two honest stories of his own, and then walks through the Bible to show something surprising. Nobody is excluded from God's love, and Jesus keeps moving toward the very people everyone else moves away from.

What's covered

Mike opens with two times he has felt like he didn't fit in. Turning up underdressed at a meeting where everyone else was in suits, and a school disco where a girl he asked for a slow dance pushed him away after about a minute ("I've never done a slow dance that fast before"). They are funny stories, but the feeling underneath them is not. Feeling left out, excluded, or like you don't have what it takes to belong is genuinely hard.

From there, Mike walks through three stories of God pulling outsiders in.

• Mary Magdalene was a woman with a difficult past, healed by Jesus, and someone society counted as a lesser witness at the time. Yet she is the first person Jesus appears to after rising from the dead, and the first to announce He is alive. Mike points out this is also a good reason to trust the Gospels are honest accounts. Nobody inventing a story back then would have chosen women as their first witnesses, because their testimony was not even accepted in court.
• Ruth was a Moabite, an outsider, a poor widow's daughter-in-law who gave up her people and her future to look after Naomi. Her sacrifice ends with her marrying Boaz, and Ruth, Boaz and Rahab (a prostitute) all being written into the family line of Jesus.
• The leper in Matthew 8 was forced to live outside the town, ringing a bell to warn people away. Jesus's response is to reach out and touch him. The one thing nobody would do.

God seems to have a beeline for outsiders. And the people He was angriest with were the religious leaders who built the whole insider and outsider system in the first place.

Then comes the turn. Mike gets honest about sitting in a group of people whose lives looked nothing like his own, and catching himself thinking, you are so different to me. His conclusion is that the work of making people feel welcome does not start with the chairs, the food, or the banners. It starts in us, and in remembering that we were once the outsider Jesus loved.

Bible passages we look at

• John 20:1-18 (Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb)
• The book of Ruth
• Matthew 8:1-4 (Jesus and the leper)
• Romans 8 (nothing can separate us from God's love)
• Romans 12:2 (be transformed by the renewing of your mind)
• 2 Samuel 9 (Mephibosheth given a seat at the king's table)
• 1 Corinthians 5 (church discipline, and why its heart is still to bring people back)

Conversation Street highlights

After the talk, Matt and Sharon Edmundson opened it up, and this is where it went deep. The topic itself came from Sonia, who suggested it.

Sharon shared that as a child she felt like she never fit in and never quite understood how life worked, which raised the question the hosts kept circling. Is there anyone who has not felt like that? Matt owned his own version, bullied for a season growing up until his mum sent him off to learn judo.

The comments carried real wisdom too.

• Ellis wrote, "Great topic. As someone who feels like an outsider in literally every aspect of my life, it's always interesting to me when the Bible speaks of putting the lonely in families." Ellis also prompted the question the hosts spent the most time on, how someone who feels like an outsider comes to see that they aren't.
• Alicia wrote, "Positioning our hearts to include others certainly involves a lot more than positioning chairs," which Matt called the line of the night.
• Talita wrote, "It sure feels welcoming here. Thank you, everyone."

A few of the threads worth pressing into:

• Welcome versus endorsement. Matt named the elephant in the room. Church often reads as unwelcoming because people hear it as, you don't endorse my lifestyle, so you don't welcome me. What we see in Jesus is someone who welcomes people without endorsing everything, and who deals with knowing you first.
• You don't have to come whole. As Matt put it, "if you're waiting for that, you never make it." Come as you are.
• Loved as we are, loved too much to be left there. Mike quoted someone wiser than him, "God loves us just as we are, but He loves us so much He's not prepared to leave us that way." All of us are accepted, and all of us are being called to change.
• Where church has hurt people. Sharon raised the harder truth that the global church has not always been good at the outworking, and wondered aloud about the people who have slipped through the cracks. Mike added that when we only ever show our best face, like we do on social media, someone broken walks in, sees a room full of seemingly perfect people, and quietly leaves. The challenge is to wear our scars as openly as our wins.
• What repent actually means. Sharon asked for a plain definition, because not everyone knows the word. The Greek behind it is a change of mind. As Matt put it, "it's simply turning around, going the opposite way." Specifically, letting God change how you think about your life.
• A seat you didn't earn. Matt told the story of Mephibosheth, the disabled grandson of Saul, living in a place called Lo Debar and certain the king would have him killed, instead handed back his land and given a permanent seat at David's table. "That's you. That's me."
• The ticket that included the meal. Matt shared the parable of a man who spent everything he had on a ticket across the ocean, then ate scraps outside the dining room because he thought he couldn't afford the food, not knowing the meals were included all along. We often do the same with everything God has already given us.
• Why Jesus moved toward the leper. Mike put it beautifully. Normally the leprosy would spread to the healthy person. Instead, "Jesus's holiness infected the leper" and healed him. His holiness is what draws Him toward broken people, not away from them.

Quotes from the talk"Nobody is excluded from God's love." — Mike Harris"The work is not about positioning chairs. The work actually has to start in me, and I have to remember that at one point I was an outsider, and it was when I was an outsider that Jesus looked down and loved me." — Mike Harris"Jesus moves toward people whom others move away from. He gives dignity before people have earned it, fellowship before people have fixed everything, and truth that invites a new life rather than shame that pushes people further away." — Matt EdmundsonWhere to go next

• Everything about Crowd Church is at crowd.church.
• We've just started Alpha, an online course that explores the Christian faith with plenty of room for questions. It's not too late to join, and you can register on the website.
• Join us live on a Sunday and stay for Live Lounge, where you can carry on the conversation with real people at go.crowd.church/livelounge.
• Midweek community groups are one of the best places to meet people and feel like you belong. Details are on the website.
• This Episode:. https://crowd.church/talks/when-you-feel-like-you-dont-belong

Crowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.

What Does John 16:33 Mean? Trouble, and Taking Heart

Did everything right and life still fell apart? You are not alone, and it might not mean what you fear.

About this episode

Sharon Edmundson opens the tougher teachings of Jesus with one of His hardest promises — "in this world you will have trouble." It is not a verse anyone pins on their wall. But Sharon makes the case that it is actually good news, because the same sentence ends "take heart, I have overcome the world." This is honest talk about why following Jesus doesn't hand you a trouble-free life, why that isn't a sign you've failed, and how to hold on when the answers don't come. Anna Kettle and Dave Connolly carry the conversation on from there, with the community joining in live.

Timestamps

• 00:00 Welcome, and the first-ever Live Lounge
• 02:14 The verse nobody pins on their wall — John 16:33
• 04:00 Following Jesus does make some of life fall into place
• 05:30 Three kinds of trouble, and what the word actually means
• 07:30 Why a promise of trouble is genuinely encouraging
• 09:00 Take heart — He has overcome the world
• 11:00 Two people, same God, different outcomes
• 13:30 The mystery we don't get to solve this side of eternity
• 15:42 Conversation Street begins
• 18:00 Tyler Staton at Wildfires — the temporary fix and the eternal one
• 20:28 Daniel 3 and the "even if not" faith
• 24:13 Falling away, shallow roots, and the parable of the sower
• 25:18 The cheap gospel warning
• 28:10 Taking responsibility for your own foundations, and the Alpha course
• 32:01 What keeps you with God when trouble hits
• 36:33 Ruth Richardson's story
• 38:54 Community questions from Alicia, Ellis and Talita
• 44:16 Can you lose your salvation
• 50:06 Trouble isn't always God's will — a word for anyone unsafe

Key pointsJesus promised trouble, and that changes how you carry it

Sharon starts with John 16:33 — "in this world you will have trouble." Not might. Will. For anyone who assumed faith would smooth everything out, that lands hard. But Sharon reframes it as a kindness. If we believe being a Christian guarantees a trouble-free life, then when trouble hits we blame ourselves, or doubt whether God loves us, and we can throw our faith away for no reason.

"It doesn't even say you might have trouble, it says you will." — Sharon Edmundson

• Trouble doesn't automatically mean you've done something wrong
• It doesn't mean you haven't prayed enough
• Sometimes it comes precisely because you are following Jesus

There is more than one kind of trouble

Sharon walks through the different sorts. There is the trouble we bring on ourselves through our own choices. There is broken-world trouble — illness, grief, miscarriage, the endless job search, abuse — the kind that hits everyone regardless of what they believe. And there is the trouble that comes as a cost of faith, from Paul's beatings and prison to the milder cultural pressure and workplace friction believers can face in the UK today. Ephesians 6 adds that some of it is a spiritual battle we can't see.

Take heart, because He has overcome the world

The verse doesn't stop at trouble. "Take heart, I have overcome the world." Sharon points out that Jesus said this like a commander steadying His soldiers right before battle — knowing He was about to be betrayed and that His closest friends would scatter. "The world" here means the human systems that ignore God, and the evil at work behind them. And God is greater than all of it.

Same God, different outcomes

Sharon holds two stories side by side. In Acts 5 an angel breaks Peter out of prison. Just two chapters later, Stephen is stoned to death — carried, even then, by a vision of heaven opened. She tells it from her own life too. Diagnosed with skin cancer last year, she experienced deep peace, a skilled surgical team and a Christian anaesthetist praying for her, and a good outcome. A colleague with the same diagnosis died a few months ago — yet she was carried by God's peace and the hope that death wasn't the end. Same God. Two very different roads.

"Jesus dying on the cross looked like a big failure, but in fact it was part of God's rescue plan." — Sharon Edmundson

There is real mystery here. We don't get the full "why" this side of eternity, and Sharon doesn't pretend otherwise.

Conversation Street highlights

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins.

"Even if not" — Dave on Daniel 3. Dave took the theme back to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, facing the furnace in Daniel 3. Their line — our God is able to rescue us, and He will, but even if He does not, we still won't bow — became the heart of the segment. God can, God will, but even if He chooses not to, He has a bigger plan.

"God can, God will, but should He not, He has a greater plan." — Dave Connolly

The cheap gospel. Dave was blunt about a version of faith that promises everyone a better life the moment they come to Jesus. He called it cheap, and said it sets people up to fall away when trouble comes. Following Jesus isn't an upgrade or a do-over — it's handing over your life. He and Anna agreed the church carries a responsibility not to undersell that.

The temporary fix and the eternal one. Anna shared something from Tyler Staton, speaking at Wildfires over the summer, that stuck with her. Even when God steps in and heals now, it's a temporary fix — the person will still face the end of life one day. The permanent solution is the hope of eternity that believers already hold.

Can you lose your salvation? Anna put the deep one to Dave directly. His honest answer, drawn from his own story of walking away for a couple of years and coming back, is that he doesn't believe you can lose something freely given — you can't stop being God's child any more than his own kids can stop being his. He held it gently, admitting he swings between the two views, and pointed to the thief on the cross as proof that God's heart is bigger than getting all the answers right.

A closing caution from Sharon. Sharon ended with something important. Trouble coming against us doesn't mean it's God's will — He tells us to pray for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven precisely because His will is not always what happens. She was especially clear for anyone in an abusive or unsafe situation — do not read your circumstances as God's will, and know that God is not asking you to stay there.

From the community. Alicia wrote in that being able to bring our frustrations to God is an underrated ability — even angry, she still senses Him with her. Ellis shared an honest struggle: God never promised a specific outcome, so how do you sit with the "what if" of things going wrong? And Talita offered the flip side — for her, hard seasons have grown her faith rather than shaken it, which the hosts tied back to how deep the roots go.

"Once you've known God's presence, you can't unknow it again." — Anna KettleScripture referenced

• John 16:33 — "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I have overcome the world"
• Luke 4:18–19 — Jesus' mission statement, good news for the poor and freedom for the prisoner
• Ephesians 6 — the spiritual battle behind what we can see
• Acts 5 — Peter freed from prison by an angel
• Acts 7 — Stephen martyred, given a vision of heaven
• Daniel 3:17–18 — Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and "even if not"
• James 1:2 — "consider it pure joy" when you face trials

Resources and next steps

• Alpha course — running now at Crowd, every Wednesday at 7:30pm. It started last week, but it's not too late to join. Whether you've followed Jesus for years or you're just having a look, it's a relaxed space to ask the honest questions over a number of weeks. Matt and Sharon are part of it, and you can join with your camera on or off.
• Live Lounge — the new Zoom room where you can meet others watching Crowd live and carry the conversation on. The link goes in the comments during the service. Find it at go.crowd.church/livelounge.
• Join the conversation any time at crowd.church.

Crowd Church — a community for those who might not see the point of church.

Everyone has a moment they're sure defines them. Here's why your worst night doesn't get the final word.

About this episode

Matt Edmundson walks through Peter's worst night, the charcoal fire in a courtyard where he denied ever knowing Jesus three times. Then to a beach, where the risen Jesus lights the same kind of fire, cooks breakfast and asks three times, once for each denial, do you love Me. It's a talk about shame, grace and finding a way back when you're sure you've disqualified yourself, part of the Jesus the Revolutionary series.

Timestamps

• 00:07 Welcome back after the summer break
• 03:07 One story that runs through all four Gospels
• 05:17 The courtyard and the charcoal fire
• 09:52 How easy the denial was
• 11:40 Breakfast on the beach
• 13:54 The same word for both fires
• 15:15 A chip shop, a smell, and how shame grows
• 17:20 What shame does and what Jesus does
• 18:50 A job, not a probation
• 20:20 Name your fire
• 21:41 Conversation Street begins
• 31:16 Resentment and the prodigal's older brother
• 34:20 Shame and conviction, and the difference between them
• 48:31 Why the opposite of faith is certainty
• 51:10 When our worship songs run on bravado
• 62:55 What's on next week, plus Alpha and Live Lounge

Key references

• Luke 22, Peter promises to go to prison and death, and Jesus tells him he will deny Him three times before the rooster crows
• John 18, the courtyard, the charcoal fire, and the three denials
• John 21, the risen Jesus cooks breakfast on the beach and asks Peter three times, do you love Me, then says, feed my sheep
• The Greek word for charcoal fire, anthrakia, which appears exactly twice in the New Testament, once in the courtyard and once on the beach
• Genesis 3, Adam hiding after it goes wrong
• Romans 2, on the goodness of God leading us to repentance
• Luke 15, the prodigal son and the older brother who resents the welcome
• John 6, where the disciples stay because there is nowhere else to go and Jesus holds the words of life
• Acts 4, Peter's prayer for boldness after Jesus returns to heaven
• Anne Lamott, the writer Anna mentions on faith, doubt and certainty
• Sand Between Your Toes by Anna Kettle, with a second book on the way
• CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably, on men and shame

Quotes from the talkShame takes you back to the fire and rubs your face in it. Jesus takes you to the fire and feeds you breakfast. (Matt Edmundson)He is not standing at your fire to cancel you. He's standing at it to cook you breakfast. (Matt Edmundson)The man who robbed money became the man who accounted for it. It's like a reverse Judas. (Matt Edmundson)Grace doesn't just pardon Peter. Grace promotes him. (Matt Edmundson)From Conversation Street

Where the talk ends and the real conversation begins. Anna Kettle and Dan Orange picked up the comments coming in live.

• Dan said he had never put the two threes together before, the three denials and the three times Jesus asks do you love Me. Same wound, healed one layer at a time.
• Dan on the kind of freedom this is, God doesn't set us free by hiding the thing away, He frees us right where it happened. Anna added that this is the opposite of cancel culture, honest about what happened and still full of grace.
• Dan asked a fair question, is there a Peter in your life you quietly resent for being restored while your own road went the other way. Matt tied it to the prodigal's older brother, and Anna shared growing up in church wondering why other people seemed to get more than she did.
• On shame and conviction, Matt described conviction as an arrow you take on the chin that draws you towards God, while shame makes you hide, the way Adam did. Dan added that shame tends to attach to identity, you stole so you must be a thief, and God can change that.
• Anna brought in the writer Anne Lamott, that the opposite of faith isn't doubt, it's certainty, and doubt is a normal part of a real walk with God.
• Dan wondered whether some of our worship songs run on bravado, all the things we swear we'll always do, and whether a quieter prayer for strength might be more honest.

Links

• Everything at crowd.church
• This page: https://www.crowd.church/talks/when-the-shame-wont-let-you-stop-hiding
• A brand new Alpha course starts Wednesday 9 September, 7:30pm UK time on Zoom. No camera needed, no pressure, just honest conversation about the big questions. Register at crowd.church/alpha
• This talk is part of the Jesus the Revolutionary series. Shaz Edmundson picks it up next Sunday

Crowd Church - a community for those who might not see the point of church.