Life by the Book: Finding God's Plan for Wholeness

Matt Edmundson: Welcome to this week's Crowd Church service.

We are a digital church on a quest to discover how Jesus helps

us live a more meaningful life.

We are a community, a space to explore the Christian faith and a place

where you can contribute and grow.

Our service is to you.

This will last about an hour, and in a few seconds you'll meet our hosts for our

service who will introduce today's talk.

After the talk, we will have a time of worship and reflection, after which

we head into Conversation Street where we look at your stories and questions

that you've posted in the comments.

Now we want to invite you to connect with us here at Crowd Church and we've got a

few ways in which you can do just that.

Firstly, you can engage with Crowd from any device during our live

stream and if you're up for it, Why not invite a few friends over and

experience the service together?

Church is all about connecting with God and connecting with others.

And one of the easiest ways for you to do that is join one of our

mid week groups where we Online together to catch up and discover

more about the amazingness of Christ.

You can also subscribe to our fairly new podcast called What's The Story,

where we deep dive into stories of faith and courage from everyday people.

More information about all of these things can be found on our website at www.

crowd.

church or you can reach out to us on social media at crowd.

church.

If you are new to crowd or new to the Christian faith and would like to know

what your next steps to take are, why not head over to our website crowd.

church forward slash church.

Next, for more details, and

now,

the moment you've been waiting for is here at Online Church Service starts right now.

Good evening and welcome to Crowd Church.

My name's Matt.

Beside me, this beautiful lady here is the very talented, the very lovely,

suave, debonair, charming, and all round good egg that is Jan Burch.

Jan, how we doing?

Jan Burch: Alright, thank you very much.

Matt Edmundson: Did that coffee do the trick?

Jan Burch: It's very nice coffee.

Phew.

It took long enough to make it, but it is

Matt Edmundson: nice.

Jen came in and I said, would you like a drink?

And she's yeah, let's have a coffee.

And we've got one of these pod machines downstairs, haven't we?

And you watched me do it.

And it just took about 10 minutes for me to figure it out.

I can work all the livestream tech.

I just can't do a coffee machine.

What can I say?

That's what happens when you don't drink coffee.

But a very warm welcome to you.

Great to have you here at Crowd we are an online church, as we said in

the intro, if this is your first time with us, a very warm welcome to you.

We're going to have a fun night tonight.

We've got, who've we got talking?

Anna Kettle.

Do you know what she's talking about?

Jan Burch: I don't know.

I hope she does.

We'll find out.

Just

Matt Edmundson: consider, I don't know what I'm talking about.

I just don't know.

That's not an impression of Anna, by the way.

That's not what she sounds like.

So yeah, so Anna is talking to us about the Bible.

Scripture.

Yeah, so we're in a series on what it means to become whole people.

What does biblical wholeness look like?

And we've started off with this idea of spiritual health.

And we're looking at how scripture helps us do that.

So that's going to be Anna's talk tonight.

So as we go through it, any questions, any thoughts, even if you just want to

say hello, whatever it is, write it in the comments, we would love to hear from you.

Peter, good evening, Peter.

I see he's in the comments.

What a legend.

So yeah, do say hi in the comments.

Be great to know where you're from.

Any questions, put them in the comments because Jen and I are

going to be chatting about all this stuff after Anna's talk on me.

Yeah, you ready for it?

Even though you don't know what Anna's talking about, bring it on.

We're gonna bring it on.

Yes, we are.

So yeah, that's what we're gonna do.

Now before we get into it, let me give you a quick heads up quick

notice for those of you who are listening to the livestream live.

Or even if you listen to it on catch up if you're watching on catch up or

listening to it on the podcast version.

Just to let you know we are starting a brand new alpha course this week.

Yes, we are.

Can we have a drumroll?

Yeah, let's go.

It's just professional.

It's what it is.

Ow.

Is that what you said?

Ow.

So yeah, we're going to start a brand new Alpha course this

Wednesday evening, UK time.

I can't remember if it's 7pm or 8.

30pm, which kind of interacts a little bit with some of the Zoom groups

possibly, which we're going to have to move around slightly, or at least

the ones that I'm involved with.

But yeah, we've got all of that coming up this Wednesday.

So if you'd like to join us in that Alpha, basically what it's going to be.

We're on Zoom.

We're going to watch.

So have you done alpha by the way?

Jan Burch: Long time ago.

Yeah.

Long time ago.

Matt Edmundson: Back when it was like in person.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think so.

Yeah.

So basically we watch a video about one element of Christianity.

It's I think 12, 14 weeks, something like that.

We watch it together on Zoom.

Then we just chat about that video a bit like what we're doing now on crowd, but

it's in Zoom a bit more in person ideal for those who are new to the Christian

faith or who want to understand the Christian faith a bit more, or maybe,

Those of you who are just exploring what Christianity means, not really a

Christian yet, but want to know more about it, want to find out more about

it, do come and join us for that online alpha, it'd be great to see you in there.

Sharon and I are going to head it up, so yeah, it'd be nice to meet you.

Come do that.

Is there anything else we can say about Alpha?

Just

Jan Burch: that it's so informative, so easy to understand and it

will answer your questions.

Yeah, definitely.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, so come do it.

If you want to know more about that, reach out to us at Crowd Church.

I'll press this button over here.

Actually, I should have moved this.

Sorry.

So there we go.

The website is on the screen.

If you're watching the video, www.

crowd.

church, or you can reach out to us on social media at Crowd Church.

Let us know if you're interested in doing the Alpha.

Yeah.

And I will send you the information through and you can come join us on Zoom.

It'd be great to meet you.

Yeah.

So yeah, it's gonna be about, like I say, it's either 7:00 PM or 8:30 PM a little

bit of ambiguity about that at the moment.

UK time, which is if you're in the States 2:00 PM Eastern Standard Time, isn't it?

About that.

If it's seven o'clock, yeah, I think you're about five hours behind.

No.

These come five hours behind.

No.

Isn't it?

Yes, but no, because in America, their clocks change.

Oh, they don't hear in England until the end of March, but in

the States, they go forward.

So I think, actually, it might be a little bit later.

I think you're four hours behind because I think they changed this weekend.

Oh, exactly.

Yeah, it might be a little bit, it might be four hours, four hours behind us rather

than five hours, but yeah, check it out.

We're, whatever the time is in London, it's going to be like I said, 7 but

we'd love to hear from you if you want to do it off or do let us know.

So yeah, that's my little notice.

I'll probably repeat it after the talk for those that join crowd during the talk.

But yeah, that was hard to say.

I don't know.

I don't know.

Let what am I looking for?

I'm looking for the talk button.

There it is.

So in fact, I'm just going to do it with my mouse.

There we go.

Let's bring Anna onto the screen.

We are going to listen to Anna.

Do

you ever do that when I talk?

Sometimes.

Okay, fair enough.

So yeah, here's Anna's talk, and then Jan and I will be back after this.

Get busy in the comments, we'll see you in a sec.

Anna Kettle: Hi there.

So this talk is called Life by the Book: Finding God's Plan for Wholeness.

Now, I guess when we're talking about Scripture and the Bible, then I suppose

we should start by addressing the question that people often ask about the Bible.

And that's why read the Bible?

Why study it?

Isn't it just an outdated historical document, really?

It was written in a different time, a very long time ago, a different culture.

How can it possibly have any real bearing or relevance for our lives today?

It's just a world apart, isn't it?

As Christians, we believe that the Bible is not just a book of ancient

stories, although it is that, but it's also a comprehensive guide to

living a whole and fulfilling life.

And that is something that we all want, isn't it?

It's something that we're exploring as part of this the coming whole series.

And so it's still very much relevant for our modern world because it's all

about that thing that we're all after, which is that wholeness, fullness life.

At the same time we're in this world which is just filled with endless advice and

self help guides and, arguably you could say, where does the Bible fit into that?

Why choose to read the Bible over any other number of self help

books that there are out there?

And there are a lot.

There's so much good advice to choose from, there's so much

psychology and clever thinking, why go back to an ancient text?

And, there's nothing wrong with self help at all.

Look at my bookshelf behind me here.

I've got stacks of good books on all kinds of subjects.

But it's not just self help.

And as Christians, we believe that the Bible is not just a useful guide with

helpful, timeless wisdom and filled with good principles for living well,

although it does offer all of that.

We also believe that the Bible is God breathed or inspired by God.

And in fact, the Bible itself actually says this as well,

it actually makes that claim.

In 2 Timothy, chapter 3, it says this, All scripture is God breathed

2 Timothy 3 · chapter mention

and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness.

And the idea that Scripture is actually breathed by God, you might

hear some people actually talk about the Bible as the Word of God

and they call it the Word of God.

And it's that idea behind that, that those who wrote the Bible were

inspired with wisdom and help the living whole by God himself, that

the Holy Spirit inspired them while they were writing it, with wisdom and

knowledge and equipping the living whole in the way that God wants us to.

And that really is the thing that differentiates the Bible from every

other good self help book that's out there, like all of those behind me,

lots of good stuff out there, but that is the thing that differentiates the

Bible, makes it completely unique.

It's the only book that's ever been written that's fully inspired

by a collective of different people who were all inspired by

God, telling a part of his story.

So you see, self help is no bad thing, and there's nothing wrong at all

with wanting to improve yourself and become a better version of yourself.

Fitter, kinder, more educated on certain subjects, or whatever it is that you want.

None of those things are bad, and I wouldn't discourage anyone

from trying to self improve.

There's nothing wrong with that at all, but it's just that kind of self

effort can only take you so far in life.

Because although there are all these other kind of resources that can provide

useful insights and strategies and helpful advice and insights, and all of that

can help us improve our lives, the only temporary sort of fixed solutions, they

don't, they're not eternal solutions.

They don't solve our core problem at the very core of ourselves,

which is how do I become whole?

How do I become right with God?

And there's a huge difference between human wisdom and God's wisdom.

There's also a huge difference between self help, which essentially relies on

self effort, and what the Bible teaches, which is encouraging us to rely on

God's empowerment to live differently.

Those two things are leagues apart, and so I want to explore a bit

more about that, and the difference between the two in this talk.

Hebrews 4 verse 12 says that scripture, the Bible, is living and

Hebrews 4:12

active in nature, but it penetrates our thoughts and attitudes, and

guides us towards wholeness.

And in Romans 12:2, it talks about transformation through the renewal

Romans 12:2

of the mind, and it highlights how scripture can actually reshape our

thinking and our whole approach to life.

But what are those secrets to wholeness that the Bible actually reveals, and

how do we begin to actually unlock them and to live into them in our every day?

I have a few.

Different thoughts on this, and a few different tips that I'll lead us

through over the next few minutes.

The first one is this.

I think that in order to really unlock the wisdom and the secrets to wholeness

that the Bible reveals to us, we have to really spend time reading the Bible.

In order to fully realise its benefits, we have to spend time reading it.

There's no shortcuts, you can't read a quick summary, you can't by a sort of

guide that gives you the key, five key points and just learn them, you have

to really actually spend time reading scripture, there's no shortcut, and many

Christians do this even as a daily thing.

Quite often I hear Christians talking about doing this first thing in the

morning, sometimes it's a quiet time, but actually I don't think it really

matters how or when you read scripture, or even how often you're doing it,

I don't think it has to be daily.

But it's just good to get into that regular rhythm of doing it

regularly and recognising that you're getting this regular diet

of scripture that's challenging you and changing the way you think.

And, so it doesn't matter how or exactly when you do it, only that you do it,

and that you do what works for you.

So some people I know would do it first thing in the morning, other

people on night hours and maybe do it just before they go to sleep.

Some people might do it with audio and do it while they go

for a run, all of us different.

And so I just really encourage everyone to find their kind of zone in this,

to find their lane and, to not worry about how often you're doing it, but

at the same time realise that the more you do it, the more you get out of it.

Now, I also know that the Bible is a really big book.

In fact, there's actually lots of smaller books that are written into

one big sort of book, of books.

There's quite a lot of books in the Bible.

And, so it's written by multiple different authors about all of their

different encounters with God over hundreds and hundreds of years.

I think the Bible spans about 700 years, and so it can seem a little

bit overwhelming at first, especially when it's written in such a different

culture and context to our world today.

It's written by mainly people, authors in the Middle East about 2000 years ago,

longer in some of the Old Testament.

So yeah, it can be quite a challenge to overcome that cultural barrier at

first, but I think that as you begin to study it, you begin to see it's

trees bearing fruit and it pays off.

And the Bible actually says this, it says that as you begin to read the Word

of God, you fall in love with it, and that love for the Word of God grows.

So I really want to encourage you to just have a go and to press in and to just Give

it a chance, even if it seems difficult at first, in Psalm 119, for example,

David says that he delights in and loves the Word of God and its commandments.

And in Psalm 1, it also talks about the one who delights in the law of the Lord

and meditates on it day by day and night.

So who reads the law, which was the Old Testament scriptures.

Now that person is like a fruitful tree that's planted by streams of water and

does it wither when the heat comes.

And I think that's a beautiful analogy of what I'm describing here,

but that scripture has that ability to be life to us and to make our

lives more fruitful and more whole.

The second point, though, that I wanna make is that it's not just

about reading scripture, it's about learning to read it properly.

An understanding in its full context, looking at the totality of what

Scripture says, not just picking out convenient verses that maybe

justify what we already think.

You can, you don't have to go too far to meet Christians who will take

one verse and twist it or justify it to prove anything that they

want to pretty much within reason.

And there's other people who might just dip in and out and pick and choose the

bits that they like, that sound nice maybe perhaps ignore the rest of it, where it

gets a bit more challenging, or difficult.

And actually, we need to look at scripture with a bit more reverence

than that, so we need to understand it properly in its cultural context, and

we need to understand it in its totality what's the whole picture of what God's

saying from Genesis to Revelations from the beginning to the end, and not

just pick out odd verses that suit us.

That's something that comes with time and it, we can learn to

study scripture properly, how do you actually do that practically?

I think several really practical, simple things that

I'd encourage you to start with.

So some Bibles come with notes in the margins, which help the readers to

actually understand the historical context of that particular story

and passage, like who's writing it?

Why was it written?

What was happening?

politically or socially at the time and it gives some of that context which

is really hard to know if you're not a historian or you don't have a lot of

time to spend digging deeper into it.

So it's really handy when there's bible notes in the margins of your

Bible where someone else has already done all that hard work for you and

you can just get the context and put it in that frame of what it all means.

And then there's also lots of good Bible reading apps and guides that

you can buy or download for free even that can really help you with this.

There's lots of Bible plans where you can read a bit of scripture

each day and it'll give you a bit of a thought around it or some ideas

or questions to dig deeper into.

So there's all kinds of resources around that are really good at this.

And if you want any recommendations with where to start, please do just drop us

a line at Crowd Church and we can point you in the direction of a few good ones.

And I think the third thing I'd say that really helps with getting

to grips with reading scripture is to read it with others and study

it together with other Christians.

And this is actually why so many Christians go to church and listen to

sermons on a Sunday or perhaps attend a midweek small group because it often

helps to study scripture and passages of scripture with other Christians and

only get the perspective of other people on a mess because other people might.

understand and see things slightly differently to how you do.

So it gives you that benefit of other people's wisdom and insights and make

sure that there's kind of consensus there.

So that can be really helpful as well.

But the third thing that I want to say about scripture is, so it's not just

about reading it, and it's not even about reading it in context and in totality.

It's also about reading it and applying it into our own lives.

James 1 verse 22 says that we should not only hear the Word of

James 1:22

God, but also do what it says.

So it's that idea of applying the principles and the ideas that we

read in the Bible into our own lives.

And that is where the real kind of rubber hits the road, and where

it really comes into its own.

For example, if I read a passage about being generous, Then, I

shouldn't just go away and think, oh yeah, that's a nice idea.

Everyone, you know what, everyone should be more generous.

That person should be more generous.

The thing that's wrong with life is that we're not all more generous.

We should all be more generous.

That may be true, but in order for change to happen, I also need to think about

applying it to myself, my own life.

So I need to think about how I can become more generous in my

own life, perhaps with my money.

with how I share my possessions with others, with my time, with

how I share my time with others.

And not only that, not only should I think about how to do it, I should

also start to move into action.

Because that's what happens when we read the Words of God, that's what it does.

It inspires us to think differently, but it also inspires us into action,

into living differently, into wanting to become more like the Christ

that we read about in the Bible.

And the fourth point that I really want to make is that.

We also need to ask the Holy Spirit's empowerment to live differently

and to live into that wholeness.

When we begin to take the Bible seriously, when it says things like, love your

neighbour as your friend, or forgive those who wrong you, or look after the orphan,

the widow and the foreigner, these big ideas that the Bible offers, these have

big repercussions in terms of how we think about our own lives, how we care

for others around us, how we socialise mainly.How we do family together, how we

serve God with our time, how we care for our planet, and dare I even say it in

this election year, how we choose to vote.

I'd be lying if I said that as a Christian, even as someone who's been

a Christian for many years, that I always find it easy to put the word of

God into practice because some of these teachings are really challenging and

really tough, and you know what, we can't just become more Christ like on our own.

We actually need the Holy Spirit to come and empower us and

to help us do what we can't.

And that is the difference between self help, which is all about self

effort, and the Bible, which inspires us to lean into the Holy Spirit, to

lean into God, for his empowerment to make the transformation inside us

that we can't just do for ourselves.

My ultimate advice on the Bible and how to dig deep into scripture is

this, don't just read the Word of God.

Don't even just read the Word of God and try to put it into practice,

although that's not a bad thing.

But really what you need to do is read the Word of God, ask God to empower

you and transform you as you begin to try and put it into practice in your

life, to inspire you and to transform you from the inside out as you begin to

read it and lean into what it teaches.

So I actually want to finish this talk a bit differently tonight.

I want to end it by reading a bit of scripture, which I suppose is topical as

we're talking about scripture tonight.

But this bit of scripture is actually a prayer which Paul prayed for spiritual

growth of the Christians in the early Ephesian church, which he's supporting.

And it's also one of my favourite passages in scripture.

It's from Ephesians 3 and it's verses 14 to 19.

And I'll read it.

It says this.

When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator

of everything in heaven and on earth.

I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources, he will empower you with

inner strength through his Spirit.

Then, Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him.

Your roots will grow deep down into God's love, and will keep you strong.

And may you have power to understand as all God's people should, how wide,

how long, how high and how deep his love is, may you experience the love

of Christ, though it is too great to fully understand, and then you will be

made complete with all of the fullness of life and power that comes from God.

Isn't that a beautiful prayer?

And I also think it just so perfectly sums up what we've been talking about

this evening, about how leaning into scripture isn't about self effort.

It's about Empowerment through the Holy Spirit, to live that

fullness and wholeness of life, and that power only comes from God.

And if you think that it might be helpful for you, I guess I'd encourage you to

take some of these principles I've been talking with or talking about tonight,

but also to take this specific passage from Ephesians 3, and perhaps consider

turning to it again throughout the week, and praying it yourself, reading through

it again, praying it over yourself again, because I think this just sum

summarizes, would be my prayer for everyone in the crowd church community.

It's also my prayer for myself, and I think it's, if you're grappling with

scripture and how to live in wholeness as a called design duty, then this

is a great prayer to start with.

And it's a great passage of scripture to look at.

So yeah, take it away.

Look at Ephesians three through the week.

Keep returning to it.

Keep praying it over yourself.

Enjoy.

Matt Edmundson: Welcome back.

Welcome back from Anna's talk.

Great talk.

Did you enjoy that?

Yes, I did.

Just said, yes, I did.

No, I did.

Now, Anna's great, isn't she, when she talks?

And Anna's been a Christian for a while.

And you can tell that actually, there's a lot of good stuff

that comes out when she talks.

Been through a lot too, eh?

Yes.

She's been through a lot.

And if you actually, if you haven't yet listened to Anna's full story,

we have a podcast, in case you don't know, called What's the Story?

And Anna and I talked through her whole story and the journey, her

and her husband have been on with miscarriage and all kinds of stuff.

And it's definitely worth a listen to.

Because Anna walks a walk, right?

And she just does.

And definitely worth checking that out.

You can find out more information about that at whatsthestorypodcast.

com which would actually just take you to the Crowd Church website

where the What's The Story stuff is featured, but just check out her story.

Really powerful stuff, but yeah.

Great.

So we're talking about scripture and how it helps us live a whole life.

You're all right there.

Jan Burch: Got a cough?

Yeah.

So that's fine.

Don't

Matt Edmundson: panic.

Yeah.

Peter says, Can you please advise on a Bible app or plan that can help

give a better understanding of the Bible, as Anna suggested, please?

Absolutely.

Are there any apps that you use?

No.

Do you not do the app thing?

Do you actually just read the paper version of the Bible?

Jan Burch: Yeah.

Old school.

Or a lesson.

Matt Edmundson: Ah, audio.

Yeah,

Jan Burch: audio,

Matt Edmundson: yeah.

Yeah, that's a good thing these days.

There's so many ways you can take it in.

My preferred Bible app?

Yeah.

is you version which is just called the Bible app by you version,

which is run by Life Church based in the States is this unbelievable

the story behind the Bible app.

What does it look like?

Hang on, because I just normally type Bible app on my phone and it comes up.

So yeah, the Bible app, not that it helps you, but that's what it looks

like once you're in it, if you have dark mode enabled but the Bible app is

great and I, I strongly recommend and start in there is what I would suggest

you do Peter, so yeah, the Bible app is the new version, it's free, all the

translations are on there, they have got a whole bunch of devotionals as well on

that app, which you can follow and use.

And then as you start to get into the meat of the Bible, there's

lots of things that you can do.

I remember one of the things that I did actually, when I first became a

Christian, I really wanted to get my head around some of the topics in the Bible.

I bought, because back then this is what you did, you bought a book.

And it was about this thick.

It was massive.

It's called the Strong's Concordance.

Oh yeah.

Have you seen it?

Yeah.

And basically what it does, if you, if there was a word in the Bible

say forgiveness, you could go into Strong's Concordance to where it

said forgiveness, and it will give you every single reference in the

Bible where that word's mentioned.

Old school paper right now, you can just type it into a search

browser and it'll bring it all up.

But that really helped me the Bible concordance, because I could just

take different themes and I could see whereabouts it's mentioned in the Bible.

And I can just see some of the different topics that were mentioned.

Strongly recommend something like that getting a good concordance.

And then the other thing that I would strongly recommend

is getting a good commentary.

So a good basic commentary on the Bible.

So something like Matthew Henry has got a really good commentary,

basic commentary on the Bible.

And this is just where theologians will talk around the stuff that you're reading

and give what Anna was talking about in terms of context, from a cultural point of

view, from the story of God point of view.

And some of those can be really good, really helpful, really insightful,

just a really good commentary.

And I think as long as you've got those few things and the rest of

it's all pretty straightforward.

I would probably avoid asking ChatGPT because, it will give you an, it will

give you, don't get me wrong, ChatGPT will give you an interpretation.

But how can I put this delicately?

ChatGPT is probably quite liberal in its interpretation.

Who says there's no bias?

There's total bias in these things.

But yeah not that I have an issue with liberal interpretations, but

I think you need to understand.

And again, when it comes to the Bible I was listening to someone talk about

this earlier, actually said, evangelical Christians versus those who say are

deacon those who are progressives, right?

So you've got two types of Christian.

One is a lot more liberal.

One is a lot more conservative, right?

And for the liberal, No piece of theology really is that important for

the evangelical or the conservative.

Every piece of scripture, every theology, every idea becomes important.

And it becomes dogmatic, right?

About the clothes you wear, about makeup and all this kind of stuff

and how you can take some of those scriptures out of context.

And actually there's, I think there's a wealth of wisdom in understanding

both point of views because often you find, I think for me, the

truth is somewhere in the middle.

Do you see what I mean?

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I hope that helps Peter.

Yeah.

Great.

Give them a try.

No problem.

See how you get on with those, but I would definitely start there.

And then

Jan Burch: there's books

Matt Edmundson: It's what we're here for, isn't it?

Yeah.

There's a good book actually by Derek Prince.

He's done, I can't remember what it's called.

I'll try and find out the title.

But he did a book on the fundamentals of scripture and he was a great theologian,

passed away, unfortunately, but great stuff, really liked Derek Prince's stuff.

And you can get into some of that.

Dig Deep.

So that's all we did when we got started out.

And then I went to Bible school.

Yeah.

I learned more about the Bible.

What do you use?

Jan Burch: I just, I've got different what do you call them?

Brains.

Different types of Bible, yeah.

NIV, I've got New Living, I've got the Word, I've got different things.

Different translations.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, that's really good.

That's one of the

Matt Edmundson: things actually you can do with the You Version.

You can see what the different translations of the verse are.

Yeah.

And so that again is helpful because You've got some versions, just to bring

some clarity around this, you've got some versions of the Bible which have,

which are quite literal translations.

And whenever you try and translate a language literally, there's

often things that don't make sense.

And, but there are some scripture, there are some Bibles out there

like New King James, American Standard Version, which are quite

literal translations of the Bible.

Then you have got people that try and give you an interpretation

rather than a translation.

In other words, when the people were writing this is what we think that they

were actually meaning when they wrote it.

To give you a more of a context of it and probably the one which people

use the most, which is the most interpretive, I think is a version

called the message, which is actually quite, it's quite a lovely interpretation

of the Bible in a lot of ways.

And I think as long as you read all these things together, it's super helpful.

Jan Burch: I've got a lot of Americanisms, which, what, the message?

Yeah, which maybe, sounds a bit.

Odd to us at times.

They did with me initially.

Yeah.

Hey man, what's happening?

That's, it's fine.

It's just but it, the rest of it, I think explains things very clearly.

Yeah.

It's an everyday language, doesn't it?

Matt Edmundson: It does, which is very helpful.

Not going to lie.

So yeah, try the different translations as well.

Yeah.

That's very good.

What's your do you have a set routine for scripture?

I

Jan Burch: listen to a lot in my car when I'm driving to and from,

I, I find that sort of space is, there's no interruptions apart from

obviously it's just me in there.

So I have a clear head space.

And I find that I remember things a lot when I'm driving.

Driving, I don't know how, I just do.

And so that's probably my favourite space.

Yeah, the car space.

Even if I'm not going anywhere else, I can sometimes sit in my car.

And it's like I've locked the door somewhere.

That's my little space.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah.

And don't anyone invade it, ever.

Yes, no.

Don't knock on the window.

Don't call.

Don't do anything.

Just leave her alone until she gets out of the car.

That's my advice.

Jan Burch: Absolutely, thank you, Matt.

Matt Edmundson: That's interesting.

Jan Burch: What about you, what's your sort of routine?

Matt Edmundson: I have, I don't know if I have a set routine.

Which is maybe goes against the grain.

I have different things that I do, right?

I, for example, if it's a weekday, like a Monday through Friday, Sharon and I

will get up we'll pray together and then I will sit either in our, we've got this

sort of swing out door on the outside of our house where I'll just go and sit

and I'll just read scripture, usually on the Bible app, the YouVersion Just

sometimes I read without aim without just want to read it to see what happens.

Sometimes I'll study it depending on different things that are going on.

And when study, I'm like, I want to know what this has got to say, there's

reading it, which is casual reading it and there's studying it, isn't there really?

And so I would, depending on where I'm up to, if I've got to talk for a crowd to

prep, maybe I'll study a little bit more.

I've just finished prepping the talk on serving, which is

coming up in a couple of weeks.

I've been studying that which has been deeply challenging.

Yeah.

So I will do that if I go to the gym if I'm in the gym, cause we

converted our garage to a gym at the bottom of our garden.

I will watch I'll have a a podcast on a biblical podcast.

And so I'll watch that.

Or listen to it more.

Listen to it when I'm in the gym which I also do in the mornings.

Yeah.

In the car.

More of a van for me.

I don't have a car.

I've got Van.

Van man.

But again, just in the van, just listening to podcasts.

I'm a big podcast fan.

There's a lot of great podcasts out there.

Jan Burch: Yeah, I like Rick Warren.

I'm not sure what other people think of him, but I find.

His teaching to be just really practical and really clear.

I think he communicates very clearly and he just says it as it is.

There's no frills.

But that's, I need that but what he says, he's tried and tested, he's been he's

been a faithful servant of the word, bringing the word I, I like him he's,

maybe not everyone's cup of tea, but

Matt Edmundson: that's such a British thing to say, maybe

he's not your cup of tea.

Yeah.

No, yeah, I think it's interesting.

I think,

Out of every Christian I know, everyone's got their favorites

who they listen to, who they,

Jan Burch: who's your favorite, would you say?

Matt Edmundson: Oh, that's a very good question.

Derek Prince really likes some of his, not all of his teaching, but most of

his teaching, I think is quite good.

John Harding, I think is a great Bible teacher.

So I like listening to him.

My wife,

Jan Burch: yes,

Matt Edmundson: obviously, it's brilliant.

Yeah.

What a legend.

But now I like people like Rick Warren, like you say, I listen to.

I'm listening to, oh, what's his name, John Mark Comer a lot at the moment, who's

just done the book called Practicing the Way so yes, what Sadaf put here in the

comments, I'm late to the party, but just a response to what you're saying about the

message and other such Bibles, let me add this, because this is just Sadaf to a T

the message and other such Bibles, I think it's important, Matthew, to point out

that it's not a translation of the Bible.

I agree, Sadaf.

And that's why I said it's an interpretation.

Jan Burch: Expiratory, expos Oh, you're reading ahead.

Here we go.

I find

Matt Edmundson: expiratory teaching, reading of the Bible in a really good

way to better understand Scripture.

So doing an expiratory teaching on Scripture.

So in other words let's say you wanted to study the subject of I love that.

I love that.

I'm just going to go through it and I'm gonna pick a topic,

say healing, for example.

So just going in and studying everywhere in the Bible where it talks about healing.

Or you could do like we did with the book of Acts, just verse by verse, just

going through what does that verse mean?

What's going on, going in deep and you could spend a year, two years

to study in one book of the Bible.

But it's line upon line, precept upon precept, it's that kind of thing.

Yeah, it's a really great way.

Very meaty, very Sadaf.

Jan Burch: Sadaf

Matt Edmundson: loves to go deep.

Jan Burch: Yeah.

Matt Edmundson: Loves to go deep.

So yeah, no, you could totally do that.

And I think it's here's the thing, right?

We've talked a lot about reading the scripture, the different

translations of the Bible etc.

But there's a point that Anna said that I want to come back to.

Yeah.

And that is That you can read it, you can understand scripture contextually, you

can go and get the concordances, you can get the commentaries, you can do all of

that sort of stuff, but fundamentally,

if you think about some of the biggest cults that have been around I'm

thinking people, I think from memory, David Koresh, I'm showing my age a

little bit, if you know who he is.

Yeah.

I think he'd memorize scripture.

Really?

I think he had one of those brains where he'd memorize the whole Bible.

So you can read it, you can know it, you can understand it, but it

can still not change your life.

And that's the fundamental thing, right?

Absolutely.

It's the power I think in, as we're talking about becoming whole, the power

is allowing scripture to transform your life, to change your thinking.

How's it done that for you?

Jan Burch: I suppose in, in, in lots of ways, really, I think certainly

through tougher times when I've prayed, and I've just asked God to speak

to me, or to make something clear.

And then, he's led me to a certain verse, or whatever.

It's just been exactly what I, it's been the light that we needed.

to shine on a dark area or some confusion or so I just think some sometimes

it's been like it jumps out at me.

Yeah.

What Dave Connolly calls a zoom word.

Yeah, definitely.

It just leaps off the page and zooms around.

Yeah, you just think, wow, how have I never seen this before?

Yeah.

And I think it, I've found, I've been a Christian a long time like you.

There's certain parts of the Bible or what I'm reading, I've probably read it before.

Yeah.

But at different stages or seasons in your life it, It means something different

or it's like God can make it fresh.

So I love that, that it's never out, it never loses its effect.

So true.

Yeah,

Matt Edmundson: so true.

It's one of those things where I think if you're to ask Sharon, because Sharon's

big on this, when in the Old Testament, where God's talking to Joshua, about

taking the promised land, he said to him, meditate in my word day and night.

Yeah.

And you'll have good strength.

And I can't remember that phrase.

Anyway, It's this whole phrase of meditating my word day and

night and then basically things will start to go better for you.

And it's this phrase meditate, right?

So for the longest time Christians have been afraid to use the word meditate

because it all felt a bit new agey.

But actually when scripture uses the word meditate, it just means to ponder, to

think about, to chew over in your mind.

It doesn't mean to empty your mind.

Scripture never tells you to do that.

It tells you to renew your mind.

Just want to point that out.

But it's Paul said it, he said, whatever things are low, noble, just, lovely, pure

think about those things, fix your mind on them, weigh your mind up, ruminate on

them, think about them, mull them over.

And when you do that with scripture, which is pure, lovely et cetera, et

cetera, and you fix your mind on it, that's what it means by meditating.

And this is when you start doing it.

You stop reading just for the sake of reading and that's, I think, when

those words just slap you about the face, the zoom words that just jump

off the page and they change your life.

And I think what happens is actually when you do that, when you read Scripture

like that and you get that sort of revelation, you've been meditating on it.

I remember doing this with the Bible verse, where it says, I can do all

things through Christ who strengthens me.

And I remember writing it out and I just wrote it out lots and lots like, I can

do all things, I'm, I can do all things.

I can do all things.

I can do all things.

Yeah.

And I'm just meditating on I'm thinking about what does this mean?

I can do all things through Christ.

Yeah.

So I can't do all things without him.

Back to the self help thing that Anna was talking about.

Yeah.

But with him, the world needs to watch out, right?

Because Yeah.

Hang on, if I've, if God's got a plan and he said it, then let's go.

And so I remember thinking about that a lot and just going around what that

meant, rather than it just being a, a nice Christian platitude that you stick

on the fridge or whatever, but actually what, and getting that deep down into

my spirit and how that changed my life, just meditating on it, thinking

about it and that, when that happens, I think that's when faith is born.

So the Bible says that faith comes by hearing and by hearing of the Word of

God in Romans, that's what Paul says.

And when that Word of God, it's not just about hearing it, like we said,

David Koresh heard it, remembered it, didn't do a blind bit of good for him.

But it's when we hear it with our heart, with our soul, when it's deep down in

us and we can believe it and we can go hang on a minute, life can be now.

That's what Very different.

And I think as we're talking about wholeness on this journey to

wholeness, there is a challenge here, which is going to keep coming up.

You can't avoid it.

It's this is what the world says.

This is what I say.

This is what the Bible says.

And it's there are three different things.

And it's what do I believe here?

And fundamentally wholeness comes, I think.

When we as people can take the Word of God and put our trust

and faith into what it says.

Does that make sense?

And when we can do that, amazing things can happen and faith is born and built and

I think that's a really powerful thing.

Jan Burch: I just think it's so important to ask ourselves, who am I listening to?

Yeah.

Who has the biggest influence on my behavior?

My actions and if it isn't God, if it isn't the Words of God, then

I think there needs to be a, some sort of re, reshift, readjustment.

I think we live in a, particularly in a world right now where

there's lots of advice.

There's lots of suggestions.

There's lots of opinions on everything.

Yeah.

And it can be confusing.

Yeah.

And I think it's so vital.

And I think it's it is finding that quiet place.

Yeah.

Even if you have to get into a cupboard and yeah, shut the door.

I think we live in such a noisy world.

Yeah.

Where your brain can't, you can't think straight.

There's a lot of interference, a lot of I think it's vital.

That we find that quiet space just to listen to God, switch

the everything else off.

And just have one line coming in.

Yeah, just focus on that.

So true, Jen.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah.

That's a mic.

If I had a mic that I could hold and drop, I'd do it right there.

Very good.

Mic drop moment.

So yeah, I think the challenge then for this week, like Anna said, pray the prayer

from Ephesians 3, 14 over you all week.

See what God says in reverse.

Yes.

Great prayer.

Oh yeah.

Just keep praying that prayer of you this week.

And just find some space in the quiet zone, out the noise.

And just read scripture, meditate on it, think about it.

And ask the simple question, God, what are you trying to say to me here?

And Holy Spirit, help me live out what it is that I'm saying, right?

Dangerous prayers, if I'm honest with you.

Very dangerous.

Yeah don't pray them half heartedly, because when God answers them,

it's a beauty.

And so yeah, that would be, I think, challenge of the week, but

I think it's a great conversation about the Bible with Scripture.

Especially in the context of wholeness, because I think our wholeness, our

identity, who we are, how we think about ourselves, how we feel about

ourselves, that is so guided and informed by our understanding of the Bible.

Because like you say, who do you listen to?

If you're not listening to the scripture, you're listening to something else.

Jan Burch: And just to I thought that just how blessed, how fortunate we are to

have the Word of God at our fingertips.

When you think about throughout the world, the people in communities that

haven't still got the Bible translated, no, they're getting less and fewer

thankfully, but we have access to the actual inspired Word of God.

And we put YouTube on or.

It's I think there is a place for absolutely having a reverence.

Yeah, there is Anna, a real seeing it as a sacred book.

Yeah.

And I think that's really important.

Yeah, because

Matt Edmundson: I think it's easy to forget that.

Yeah, because it is so available to us.

Almost take it for granted.

Yeah.

And, you hear stories of people Who would almost die because they were just

trying to get hold of a copy of one of the Gospels or one of the pages from

someone's Bible or something, it became like their best possession in life in a

lot of ways and you just, but we take it so for granted just because of the ease

at which all this stuff is available.

That's right.

But I think you're right.

Treat the word of God reverently.

Is such valuable advice.

Because don't just have a casual relationship with the Bible.

It's probably another way to say it.

I thought, I think Christians that have casual relationships with scripture

really struggle in life because yeah.

You're neither in nor out.

Do you know what I mean?

It's one of those, I think when the storm, Jesus talked about it this way,

he said, when the storms come, and they're going to come, let's face it.

Absolutely.

Your house gets blown down because your foundations aren't deep and your

foundations aren't deep because you have a casual relationship with the Bible.

Yeah.

And I think you have to treat it reverently.

I think you have to study it.

You have to let it change your thinking.

You have to let it change your behavior.

And you have to be willing to put your faith in it when all

that's around you is just telling you the exact opposite, right?

It's what changes your life.

It's what brings wholeness, which is

Jan Burch: You know what, Matt, as well, sometimes I think

I almost panic a little bit.

I think if I was ever in a position where I didn't have any, of my possessions.

Almost like being isolated somewhere, like in a shipwrecked island or.

In a prison in Thailand or whatever, I have got no ambition to be in either of

those places, but should any of those things happen, then I would think,

I would be like, what do I remember about the Bible, about the word of God?

What did God say about this?

And it's it's got to be in us.

Yeah.

So that, when I'm 80 and I wanna, think something or it's there.

Yeah.

It's it's got to be a part of who we are and Yeah.

It really has.

Yeah I totally agree.

Think about that,

. Matt Edmundson: It's gotta be, I think the answer to the question is now if you

get shipwrecked on an island, you can take one thing with you, what would it be?

There's got to be scripture.

It's got to be, I just want a copy of the Bible.

Yeah.

in large print if I can't take my reading glasses.

Jan Burch: Absolutely.

Matt Edmundson: Peter says, Thanks, Jan.

That's a brilliant comment regarding us having the Word of God at our fingertips.

And we should try and understand what is being said and what is expected of us.

Great comment, Peter.

Thank you for that.

So yeah, all very true.

Brilliant.

That was a great Conversation Street.

Yeah, I enjoyed that.

Thank you.

I enjoyed that.

Just one more time.

Let me remind you, ladies and gentlemen, we have an Alpha

course starting this week.

If you'd like to know more about it, we'd like to come join us and find

out more about this Christian faith.

Whether you are new as a Christian, want to deepen your faith a little

bit, or whether you're just I don't know, exploring Christianity.

We would love to hear from you.

We're starting this Wednesday.

You can get in touch with us on the website, www.

crowd.

church or via social media at Crowd Church.

We would love to hear from you.

Come join us on a Wednesday evening.

Sharon and I will be heading up an Alpha starting this week.

So do come along.

Another thing to say to all you, especially all you British mums.

I suppose it's worldwide as well, but although it's only

in England, Happy Mother's Day.

Jan Burch: Yeah, did you know that

Matt Edmundson: there's a difference between this?

I didn't write so when I lived in America, because Mother's Day,

I think in the States is in May.

So if you're watching this from the States or listening, you'd like

what you're talking about Mother's Day, don't scare me like that.

And I remember when I lived in the States, my mom called me

and said thanks for the card.

I said, What are you talking about?

She says, Where's my Mother's Day card?

Oh, my Mother's Day two months away.

So you know, there's adverts starting to appear two months away.

She's no, it's today.

Oh, Yeah.

I was like, it can't be.

Jan Burch: And it used to be called Mothering Sunday, didn't it?

Yeah.

Now called Mother's Day, probably still is, but yeah.

Thank you.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, probably is.

But yeah.

Happy Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day.

Thank you.

Yeah.

You're a legend of a mum to all your mums out there, mom.

Say again, auntie your mum.

And to my mum, who is also a legend.

Happy Mother's Day.

Yes, thank you.

And to my wife, happy Mother's Day.

Just basically if you're a mum, happy Mother's Day.

Yeah.

And even if you're a mum, do you know what I mean?

Not just a s sense.

Yeah.

In the spiritual sense.

I know a few people like I know someone who sent Sharon a text message

earlier to saying Happy Mother's Day.

And because I think she's been a spiritual mom to that person.

I think all of you ladies that look out for other people, you're absolute

legends in every sense of the word.

So yeah, Happy Mother's Day to all of you.

And then one of the better news.

Did you know Dan Orange, Dan, a couple of weeks ago, talked about prayer.

Yeah.

Okay.

And if you follow us on social media you'll see that we put out these

like 30 second video clips, just little clips from the talk, right?

There'll be some coming out from Anna's talk.

They'll be out next week, I have no doubt.

And we put out a clip on TikTok of Dan's talk on prayer.

And it got retweeted, not retweeted, reposted By Stormzy.

What?

Yeah.

So Stormzy repost Dan's little thing on prayer and Dan went

a little bit viral on TikTok.

And you should have seen Dan when I told him it was just

like another three foot tall.

I bet.

It was like,

Jan Burch: wow.

Matt Edmundson: Stormzy, my man.

Thanks for the repost, Bro.

Appreciate it.

Jan Burch: Yeah.

That's brilliant.

Matt Edmundson: So yeah, Dan's face was plastered all over the

internet last week, which is amazing.

So yeah, no, that's great.

That's great.

So what's coming up next week, Jen?

Jan Burch: Same

Matt Edmundson: again.

You have no idea.

I'm asking you cause I'm just buying a little bit of time while I find out of

Jan Burch: it today in keeping up, I'm afraid.

Matt Edmundson: Yeah, that's all right.

I didn't know either.

So let me grab my glasses.

So next week, we have Pete Farrington talking about

being led by the Holy Spirit.

Ah, it's me and Will hosting next week.

Oh, nice.

It's good to know that ahead of time, which is great.

So yeah, Will and I will be back next week.

He's also a legend, always enjoy hosting with Will.

Yeah, he's great.

He doesn't smell as good as you though, Jen.

No, of course he doesn't.

Fortunately, they can't smell him down the camera.

But yeah, I'm Chanel, is that what you are?

I love Chanel.

Whenever I hear the word Chanel, do you remember that?

I know.

No.

The thing that went on Instagram with a lady that lost her parakeet called

Chanel, she had a parakeet called Chanel.

And there's this video that went, if you Google it, I think it comes

up, there's this video of this lady walking down the street going Chanel.

Jan Burch: Okay, thanks for that.

Matt Edmundson: So yeah, whenever I hear the word Chanel, I've just got

this lady in my head, just screaming the name of this parakeet which she'd lost.

So yes, thanks for that.

Yeah, you're more than welcome.

You have to watch the video to understand the humor.

I'm really sorry, because everyone's What's wrong with you, Matt, right now?

That's a big question.

I don't know if we'll ever get to the

answer, but but listen,

Jan, for joining me.

Matt.

Yeah, absolutely, Jan.

Thanks everyone for joining us on the live stream and for your comments.

Great to see you.

Great that you're here.

Do stay with us.

Do subscribe wherever watch this or listen to it from because we've got,

we're just literally starting this whole series on biblical wholeness and

we have got a long way to go because I've seen some of the notes coming up.

Yeah, we've got a fair few to go through.

Be ashamed to miss any of them.

Do be ashamed.

It would be a shame because I'm quite enjoying this whole talk series, actually,

I'm becoming hopeless, but I find it deeply challenging because it's making me

rethink a lot of things, like even today, scripture Am I reverence in scripture in

a way that I should, and pastor Alexander.

Jan Burch: Hello Pastor Alexander

Matt Edmundson: from the Congo.

Is that the limit of your French?

Jan Burch: Yeah.

No, it's not good.

Should have Tim here.

Maybe I can speak.

Matt Edmundson: Jan's husband is a French teacher.

Yeah.

Jan Burch: Yes, I know my verbs though.

Do you?

Yeah, I've never forgotten my verbs.

Matt Edmundson: Very good.

Jan Burch: Yeah, pretty useless though.

Yeah.

There you go.

Matt Edmundson: There you go.

There you go.

It's great to see you Pastor Alexander.

I hope you're my friend.

Absolutely.

Always lovely to see you in the live stream.

But yeah, have a fantastic week wherever you are in the world.

I will see you next week.

Merci, Bonsoir.

When are we back on?

When will you see the folks next?

Jan Burch: A few good few weeks.

Is it a few

Matt Edmundson: weeks?

John will be back in a few weeks.

Yeah, have a look at that.

I could, let me just put my glasses back on.

Jan Burch: I think it's a wee while.

Matt Edmundson: It's a wee while is it?

Oh, you're on twice in May.

Back to back.

Jan Burch: Oh.

Matt Edmundson: Not quite sure how that's happened.

Maybe Sadaf needs to have a look at that.

Anyway, you'll see the you'll see the good folks in a few weeks.

But yeah, have a great week wherever you are.

Have a great week, everyone.

God bless you.

I'm gonna play.

I think I just need to reach over there and press the right button.

But yeah, it's been great to see you.

Enjoy the concert.

Hasta pronto.

Oh, yeah, Peter's in Spain.

So we've got Peter is in Spain.

We've got Pastor Alexander, who's in the Congo.

Wow.

And we're in Liverpool.

Jan Burch: It's amazing.

Yeah, it's crazy isn't it when you think it through.

God's in all three places.

Matt Edmundson: And the rest of the world.

But mainly in Liverpool.

But

mainly in Liverpool.

Jan Burch: And God's a Nevatonian.

Yeah, he's not.

He is.

No, he doesn't need that.

He told me he was.

Matt Edmundson: He doesn't need that amount of pain in his life.

He's got enough trouble with his kids.

Yeah,

Jan Burch: neither do I, let me tell you.

Matt Edmundson: Oh, we're getting on to politics and football.

That's a faith adventure, isn't it?

Yeah, it's a faith adventure.

Go on and stretch your faith, become an Everton fan.

Yeah, that's fine.

You're all Everton fans in your house.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm sorry about that.

It's a burden I have to bear.

It's just a burden you've got to bear.

That's awesome.

Have a great week.

All right, guys.

Love you lots.

Have a great week.

Like I say, don't forget, if you want to know about Alpha, do get in touch with us.

We'd love to see you on the Alpha course this week.

So catch you soon.

All right.

Bye for now.

Bye!

Thank you so much for joining us here on Crowd Church.

Now if you are watching on YouTube make sure you hit the subscribe button as well

as that little tiny bell notification to get notified the next time we are

live and of course If you are listening to the podcast the live stream podcast,

make sure you also hit the follow button.

Now by smashing the like button on YouTube or writing a review on

your podcast platform, it helps us reach more people with the message.

That Jesus really does help us live a more meaningful and purposeful life.

So if you haven't done so already, be sure to check out our website, www.

crowd.

church, where you can learn more about us as a church, more about

the Christian faith, and also how to connect into our church community.

It has been awesome.

Awesome to connect with you and you are awesome.

It's just a burden you have to bear and hopefully we'll see you next time.

That's it from us.

God bless you.

Bye for now.