Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Speaker A: But we are touching on Luke 20 and we're going to look at the parable. This is a parable of the tenants.
So if you've got your Bibles.
Okay, here we go.
He went on to tell the people this parable, this is Jesus. A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time.
At harvest time, he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.
But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty handed.
He sent another servant, but that one also. They beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty handed.
He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out.
Then the owner of the vineyard said, what shall I do? I will send my son whom I love.
Perhaps they will respect him.
But when the tenants saw him, they talked this matter over.
This is the heir, they said, let's kill him.
Sorry, I've just lost where I am. This is the heir, they said, let's kill him and the inheritance will be ours. So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
When the people heard this, they said, God forbid.
But Jesus looked directly at them and asked them then what is the meaning of that which is written? The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces.
Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed. The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest Jesus, to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them.
But they were afraid of the people.
Matt, James and Phil, will you come out and sit on these chairs?
[00:02:36] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: Just give him a round of applause as they come.
What a fine looking group of leaders you've got here.
Just really quickly on this parable because it's going to fit in with what we're doing this morning.
Okay?
Jesus. Or if you go through the book of Luke, we've been studying it all throughout 2025.
Jesus had so much opposition. Yeah, we all agree he had so much opposition. All right. The crowds that followed him actually wanted something from him, and it was always for personal gain.
Ever known any Christians like that?
They want to follow Jesus if it suits them, it's for personal gain. If you've been in ministry and in church long enough, you come across people that actually they have this motive and another reason why they want to be part of the church.
Sometimes it's because they want to look good.
Maybe they've been brought up in a Christian home and they want to look good in front of their parents.
So they just toddle along on a Sunday to tick the list.
But they don't really want Jesus. There's an agenda. And all the way along, Jesus life. The crowds followed him. There is one, there's one line that says this. Jesus would not entrust himself to the crowds.
He wouldn't entrust himself because he knows the heart of the crowd.
And so people followed. And a lot of the people wanted Jesus for their healing, for their provision, for their finances. Lord, you can do this. I'm coming to you to do this. And just like the lepers, they went home. Only one came back to the to say thank you. Only one came back to actually bow at the feet of Jesus and go, I know who you are. You are the healer. You're the Messiah. And so all of these people in the Bible had an agenda, or we might call today a motive, an ulterior motive other than Jesus himself. So we've called this today as a church that as we step forward into 20, 26, we don't want an agenda, we just want Jesus.
That everything we do in our service is not to be seen by others. It's not to climb the ministry ladder.
It is. We just want Jesus.
We just want you. We want him.
And so that's why at the day of Pentecost, there wasn't crowds of people waiting for the empowerment of the Holy spirit. There was 120 people out of the thousands of crowds that followed him.
Do not worry today. And I want to say this to us as a church and our ministry leads about the crowds.
I believe the day of crowds is over.
I believe there'll be a multitude of people following Jesus. Yes. But I believe the day of just coming along because a crowd is there is going to be over.
I don't want to be a part of just a crowd that follows a noise. I want to be part of people that follow Jesus.
And this morning, in your hearts, we have to decide, why are we here? Why are we doing what we're doing?
If Jesus hasn't changed our life, but we're turning up to tick a list, then we need to look at our hearts this morning and go, why am I really here?
What am I really doing?
Has God really changed my life?
And so.
And I'll come back to you guys in a moment.
And so we have to look at our intentions and we have to look at why we're following Jesus, It's a good question to ask at the start of a year. Why am I following Jesus?
And the owner of the vineyard is God.
All right? And Jesus, when he was talking, he wanted to talk to the religious people.
Anybody know any religious people?
You know those people that always correct you, but they're not exactly living the best life themselves. Watch out for people who are always correcting you and telling you what to do.
See, religious people will always want to get the upper hand on you. But you see, God loving people will show you grace and love and also really have a lot of patience with you because they know themselves. We are all on a journey. We're all on a journey at different parts of that story and that journey. And we all need the grace of God, we all need the love of God.
We have to be careful. We don't judge one another.
But the story of the vineyard. So God is the owner of this vineyard. And really, Jesus is basically targeting the religious people.
And what they did, he. You know, the religious people were supposed to be good people.
They were the ones whose lives should have been changed.
They should have been the ones leading the people to Jesus. But really they were like blind leading the blind. They had no idea about the things of God. Sure, they could recite the law of Moses, but they had no idea about the things of God. They could do the law, they could do the duty, they could look right on a Sunday and come out with all their robes.
But Jesus in telling this parable, was basically saying, you have an agenda, and the agenda is for personal gain.
And they had been doing all the religious stuff. And Jesus says, well, I even sent my son. This is what the parable was saying. God says, I've sent my son and you even killed my son and you cast him away.
And then Jesus reminds them of the cornerstone.
You know, if, you know, building and structure, you know, the cornerstone is the most important stone because it holds everything together.
And in this parable, Jesus was saying, I'm the cornerstone. I'm not just any stone, I'm the cornerstone. If you build your life on me, I'm going to hold it all together.
And that's what Jesus was saying. And of course, the religious people didn't like that because they knew Jesus was telling them this message, that they had an agenda, they had a personal gain.
As a church this year, no agenda, just Jesus. Just Jesus. And this morning we're going to hear from our three amazing leaders, their life story. Because often we don't hear it, do we? We kind of like Just life happens. And sometimes we don't hear enough of people's stories.
So this morning we're going to hear about how these guys surrendered their life to Jesus.
I think it's hard, particularly men, if I can say that, for men to surrender their lives to Christ.
Because I have two sons, I know testosterone on display very, very well. I had brothers. I grew up in a very manly household. And I think sometimes for men, it is harder to surrender, to have that laid down life.
All right, And I think that's going to come out a bit this morning. All right, so we are going to interview these guys about a surrendered life, about not having an agenda when your whole agenda for life went. And you gave everything to the Lord. That proverb. No, is it Proverb 3, verse 5 and 6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Remember the Lord in everything you do, and he will show you the right way.
That's surrender.
That's surrender. So are you ready? Are we ready to grill them a little bit?
Shall we? Okay, first of all, though, we want to know what was your best present that you got for Christmas?
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Thanks. Thanks for that. You were first. But you passed it to me.
I could pass it to James. Right. What was my best present I got for Christmas?
I know it's quite cliche, but just being at home with my family was a real present for me.
My wife let me have a new bass guitar, which we'll see and hear. And, yeah, I just want to learn a new instrument. But to be honest, the best present was just seeing my family, my children, just be together and just thanking God for family, you know, and for us being together.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Brilliant. James, what about you?
[00:11:21] Speaker C: Mine sounds a bit fancy, but silk pillowcases, it helps with my eczema. Yeah, it dries you out, but, yeah, they're really nice.
[00:11:30] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Very cold when you put your head on it, but nice and cool.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: So when we all go around to James House, we've got to ask him to show us his pillowcases. He's very fine. Pillowcases.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: There's dribble on it already.
[00:11:41] Speaker A: Okay. Phil, what did you get for Christmas?
[00:11:44] Speaker D: Can you all see them? Ooh, you don't get a lot at 51, do you, for Christmas? But a lovely couple in the church bought me the cold holy socks.
[00:11:54] Speaker B: And.
[00:11:55] Speaker D: And they all depict a different story from the Bible.
So these are my holy socks.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Love them.
And is it like the Journey? Did you get Noah?
[00:12:04] Speaker D: I think it's on that one.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: No, let's Have a look. Come on.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: I'm sure I saw you in those socks last week. Have you not changed them yet?
[00:12:19] Speaker A: They look really great. I love them. Okay, are we on for the first question?
Yeah, we're on for the first question. Okay. Surrender to God in the.
The owner of the vineyard. Yeah. Which is God.
All right. He's the owner. I want you to share a time in your life when, you know, we've got. We're born into this world, right? Yeah. And there's two options. We either live for self.
Right. We become the owner of our own vineyard, do what we want, serve ourselves with our own personal goals. All right? Or we give our lives to Christ. Okay. I want you to share a time in your life when you lived for yourself.
Okay. When you were clearly the owner of your own vineyard, you were doing your own thing. You were far away from God. All right, Share, share. What happened as a result of you living for yourself? Like, what did that look like?
[00:13:07] Speaker C: So it's a fairly recent one, actually.
We had a couple come down to stay with us for a little while. They were looking for a house down the southwest. So they stayed with us for a little while. We agreed they'd stay with us for a few weeks, and that was fine. And that rolled on and became a few months and then quite a few months, and it was kind of increasing friction at home. It's quite difficult when you've got another family living with you in a house. And it. Even though the Lord, I felt in my heart say, like, just. Just a bit longer. Just. Just look after them a bit longer. This is, you know, what I've. I've given you to look after.
When I saw an opportunity to potentially house them elsewhere with a friend, I leapt at it to try and arrange that, and it just wasn't right. And I really felt the Lord kind of like, pull back from me in that moment and be like, that is not what I've asked you to do. You need to take a look at yourself. You're really trying to take authority over the situation, which you don't have. It's not like my house isn't my house. It's the house given to me by the Lord. So if he wants to put other people in it, that's up to Him. It's not up to me to say no. It's time for them to go.
[00:14:13] Speaker A: I love that because it's like, everything we have, it says, the Lord is the owner. He owns everything. Yeah, we. We have things by his grace.
[00:14:20] Speaker C: Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:14:22] Speaker A: That's Brilliant. I love the way you've looked at that. Like, my house, my possessions there, God has given them me to use for his glory. Yeah, yeah, brilliant.
[00:14:30] Speaker C: Sorry, quite short.
[00:14:31] Speaker A: That's good. That's good.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Matt, can you ask the question again?
[00:14:34] Speaker A: Yeah, sure. So a time when you basically, you were living for yourself. It can be. Before you became a Christian. Yeah. You're living for yourself. How did that work for you? And then obviously, don't cover too much because we come to that in a moment.
[00:14:47] Speaker B: So I grew up in a Christian home.
You know, we did all the right things, said all the right things, prayed the right prayers.
If I'm being honest, when I got into my teens, it just felt like dry religion.
And so when I left home, I knew what I was going to do. I was going to join the Navy. I left home, went to university, and to be honest, I just didn't really touch Christianity or. I still spoke to God and prayed in my heart. But if I'm being honest, up to that point, the only time I ever prayed was to ask God to give me good exam results. I said, lord, if you will help me out, redeem me from my A level Geography E grade to a B, and I'll serve you forever.
I will live for you, give me the grades I need, give me a girlfriend, and I'll just do anything for you. To be honest, he gave me great grades. By the grace of God, did I live for him? Did I heck? So I left home and to be honest, I found myself just mixing with a totally different crowd.
You know, we would go on sort of nights out, pretty much most nights a week.
And then a few months in, I was bored, to be honest, and I thought, right, well, I've got to do something which isn't, you know, with this crowd and. Anyone remember Freshers week at university? If you've been. You get all the different stands and people are saying, right, come and join the climbing club, come and do the mountain sports, whatever.
And there was a little stand there which had a Christian union.
And I remembered in my head, right, they meet on Tuesday at this place in the campus. So I was bored, to be honest. One night, got myself down there and I was blown away.
I had never seen people my age just loving on me so much.
So anyway, I started going to there for a few months. The surrender point is coming. But all along that way, I felt like I was wrestling with God because all I wanted was companionship. I just wanted.
It was at the point in my life where, you know, I just really wanted someone that could be my wife.
And I would go out and, you know, wouldn't go into too much.
And then eventually, after sort of a year in, I think about a year, maybe just shy of a year, I just said, lord, this isn't working.
And I just. I got to the point where he enabled me to just stop. And I just stopped trying.
And within a matter of a few weeks, I met Caroline.
And I was almost 20 at that point, and I didn't know she was going to be my wife.
And it was like the Lord had done that work for me after I had stopped, after I'd actually surrendered. And don't get me wrong, there was a huge journey of progressive surrender from that point, you know, to now.
But that was a miracle for me.
[00:17:55] Speaker A: Brilliant. Brilliant, Phil.
[00:17:59] Speaker D: Yeah.
You all know I was backslidden between the age of about 16 and so 23. And I really did live for myself then. So anything I share now, I'm not in any way glorifying my youth, but I was a bit of a party animal when I was younger and there was too much alcohol consumed.
I'll share more about that later. And I felt the same as Matt in the end. I felt empty. But one night I locked my mum and dad out of the house. So that was kind of the epiphany of selfishness, because I'd drunk too much, locked the door. Remember the old Chubb lock in the 90s? You'd lock from the inside and they were still out at the friends from church. They couldn't get in and they had to go. My dad was on some step ladders, knocking on my window at midnight and I was snoring my head off.
So I guess that was pretty selfish and I really was living for myself then, nobody else.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:18:53] Speaker A: And obviously, as a result, it was, yeah, your parents. Breakdown in relationship with your parents.
But you remember that time?
[00:19:04] Speaker D: Well, I didn't have a full break. My mum was just. She was just so upset. I'd kind of grown up in a Brethren background and it was really hard for Mum to see me going out, drinking, clowning about.
So, yeah, I probably embarrassed my mum a lot. And I always remember going out on a Friday night before I'd have a bit to drink and she'd say, where's God in your life, Phil? Bear in mind, I got baptized at 14.
And between the age of 12 and 14, I probably got saved about 100 times. Every time there was a pastor's appeal, I put my hand up because I really wanted to know Jesus which one of those hundred it was, I don't know. But I know that he touched me. I remember crying my eyes out, getting baptized. So to be only five years later, just so far away from God, I did feel a bit of a hypocrite. And I always had my mum's words as I'd go out to the pub in my ear, like, where's God in your life, Phil? And I just ignored her. So it was a tough time.
[00:19:55] Speaker A: And I think there's this theme coming through. Aren't our lives a mess when we're the owner of our own lives?
Like, the mess, the depths that we can go to, and the emptiness at the time, we think, you know, we're living for ourselves and we think, this is brilliant. Or maybe we don't. My mum was actually a clubber.
She was like a church leader for 50 years, but she was a hairdresser in the 60s before she met Christ. And she said she would go out clubbing, right Sunday morning, she'd wake up to, like, try and get to church when her friends invited her. But she said, you feel so empty, the emptiness. She said when you're in that party zone, you don't, because that's why you drink, let's be honest, because you. You want to wash away all the reality of life and the hurts. But she said you wake up so empty. And that theme, that thread is coming through. And God is wise when he wants to be the owner of our lives because he's got nothing but good for us, because he's good.
Right? Just. Next question.
Really quick answer on this one. All right, so you part where you didn't surrender the mess of not surrendering. And I guess even now, when we don't surrender and follow God, it's like the Jonah story, isn't it? He. It's like the pullback is when he pulls us back. It can be quite painful sometimes that we end up having to say sorry and humble ourselves and ask for forgiveness when those things happen. But when did you stop running your own life as three men, right? You decided to say, I am going to stop being the boss of my own life and fully surrender my life to Christ. He's going to be the God of my life. I'm going to come under his reign and rule. Like, when did that just explain just a little bit of when that moment for you all happened?
[00:21:42] Speaker C: I think I have a similar story to Phil in that I used to put my hand up a lot for, you know, to be redeemed at the back of Church, the rest of it. But I never really, I'd always kind of, over the week, kind of forget about it and go back to how I was before.
But I made the call to be baptized when I was 21 and that was when it really stuck to me. As I've made this public declaration now, it's not just about my internal. It says now I'm a Christian to other people, to my friends, to family. I have declared this. And now I must live up to these things. I've made this promise.
But at that time I was still under the authority of. My parents are still living at home as well. So they, they helped support me in that.
And then when I got married, that was really okay. Now I'm the man of the house. I am the authority within my house under God.
But that was a big mess. That was when I was 27.
And yeah, that was the big changing moment of yeah, this is now my household. We serve the Lord. It's up to me to make sure that happens.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Brilliant, James, just quickly on that.
What practical or changes did you have like in your heart were you saying? Right, okay, I think part of that what you're saying is you had to grow up.
Yeah, there's a bit of growing up to do. You get married courses growing up to do. Right. But was there a sense of actually I don't need to just mature as a man, I need to mature as a disciple of Jesus Christ if I'm gonna lead my home. Well, you know, and the family that I have, you know, things have got to change. There's gotta be more than just a physical grown up, there's a spiritual mature and, and did you come to that?
[00:23:21] Speaker C: Yeah, very much. I mean it very much came from before. It was just I'll turn up to Sundays, I'll occasionally be on media team because I feel like I need to serve, but I'll do it kind of begrudgingly to.
I now have this living relationship with the Lord and I want to seek that, I want to grow in that. It's an active participation and me driving towards the Lord rather than just standing there and waiting around for him to turn up, occasionally wandering off and coming back.
[00:23:45] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: Okay, Matt, so that moment, that moment for you.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: Sure.
Right. So I think I came to Faith at 19, I got baptized at 21.
And then that year I joined the Navy.
First two years pretty much as an officer is in training and then I joined my first ship at 23 and I was on there for two years. I was a deputy weapon engineer Officer. And to be honest, at the point of coming to Faith and being in those Christian circles and then leaving and then joining the Navy, if I'm being honest, I wasn't actually discipled in the faith. I wasn't rooted in the Word.
I wasn't. I knew. I knew God, but I didn't know him know Him. I didn't have the depth. It was the, you know, the. The initial kind of the miracle of salvation you go through that. That's amazing.
It's the most amazing miracle that we can ever have because we're born again, aren't we? But after that, I wasn't rooted. So I found myself banging the middle of this ship, surrounded by sailors and Marines who love to drink. Yeah, they love to swear, they love to have fights, they love to watch films and all of that, apart from work.
So I found myself, to be honest, I got to the end of that as a. I was.
So I'd passed this professional qualification that everyone needs to go through. I smashed it, to be honest. And we went out in Rhodes and I was there. The captain was on one side, one of my mates was on the other, and we were singing karaoke in this bar and I thought to myself, I've made it now. I've absolutely made it.
[00:25:34] Speaker A: I've got a bit. Was it a bit like Maverick? Top Gun?
[00:25:37] Speaker B: It might have been like that.
[00:25:38] Speaker A: I just have visions. Anybody else have those visions of like, you've lost that love?
[00:25:43] Speaker B: Sort of.
I thought I was on top of the world. This was four in the afternoon. There was no one else. You know, the sort of party hadn't started, but we were there and we thought, yeah, boys are back in town.
And when I. That was shortly after that, I left that ship and I came home and I felt so empty.
I was just, I haven't made it at all. And I looked back and, you know, you sort of. You look back at your own life and go, what happened there?
Really, at that point, I said, lord, I really actually need to surrender my entire life now to you, otherwise it's going to go south, it's going to go, I'm about to be a dad. So Caroline was pregnant at that time, and this was the December. Poppy was born in January. And I thought, I need to mature spiritually. I need to grow up. And it was really at that point where I actually laid it down. Now, the journey of surrender took a lot longer than that, or the journey of healing, you know, that progress through that. But over those two years, I really felt the Lord had Come in and done a work. But it was at that point where I thought, yeah, I'm done living my own life. It's not going to go very well if I carry on down this bearing.
[00:26:53] Speaker A: No, that's so good, thank you. Just give me a round of applause for that. I love that, Phil, your life, that moment for you when you realized. And not that life then becomes perfect, but you made that real decision to come back to Christ.
[00:27:08] Speaker D: I feel you've all heard this a few times, but seems like you're asking me. I'll tell you. But yeah, I was in a dance floor in the centre of Leeds, but there'd been a build up to it. There'd been a build up.
So I had a friend, Kev, who I grew up with in the Life Church, Bradford Youth Group. And I'd see him every now and again drinking a Diet Coke in a nightclub. And he used to think, what a muppet. And I'm there, absolutely scooted. And I used to see him about once a year, every now and again.
And I'd say, kev, I do need to get my life back right with God. And he'd always say, phil, only you can do that. And that was always what he'd say to me. And we were never really that close in that time. Even though it was my best pal when I was younger and then, yeah, I'd just been searching and like Matt, just the same, I think it's good to point out, especially with all you young people here, like, I did have fun and it was a party in time and to say that it was boring, I'd be lying to you. I was having a great time, I was having great fun, but I was doing exactly what Esther said. I was living for me.
So in the middle of all that, they're silly old me. And do you know what I used to do? Only the people my age and above remember cassettes that you had in your car? I had a cassette cut. The only one I had called Times of Refreshing, right? What a flipping hypocrite. So I'd be out drinking on a weekend and then on Monday morning I'd drive to work and I'd put a worship tape on. Honestly. And I used to love just listening to worship. And I'd grown up in this lovely Christian home and I knew God was real, but I was living life for me. And I was like in this battle of. In the world. But I still. And I know I wanted to meet a Christian girl and get married. I thought, what Christian girl's gonna Want to marry me.
So I knew that I had to get me right with God more than anything. And I.
Yeah, I was in the centre of Leeds and I just started crying on this dance floor. And people look at me going, what a weirdo. There's like a big gap around me where people are like, what's wrong with him? And the next morning, I went back to church and I absolutely.
Probably like a waterfall of tears. The carpet around me was soaking wet. And I committed my life back to God. But, you know, when you know, you really mean it. And it was the most special moment of my life by far. It was just epic. And Kev. Kev was in the meeting and he came, put his arms around me and he knew I meant it. And he was my best pal again.
[00:29:23] Speaker A: And, yeah, you know, as you're saying that we've got to give space and grace for people who want to return to the church.
Why can't we be a church that embraces people back home?
And when they've gone, we're here, consistent and waiting and praying for them to come back home.
Yet we have to be a church like that. And I think that's the heart of God, that he wants us to welcome people when they come back home. You know, I don't want anybody who may be part of their journey. They leave. I mean, look at. I was reading Peter over Christmas.
Look at the disciples of Jesus. Peter had witnessed some amazing things, had been so close. He was one of the favorites, if you want to call him a favorite of Jesus, one of the three.
And he'd experienced so much with Jesus, yet denies Jesus.
He'd seen Jesus. He'd seen the power of Jesus. He had shared meals with Jesus. They'd slept on hard floors in houses together. They'd broken bread together. And Peter goes out and completely denies ever, ever even knowing Jesus. I mean, what an epic fail.
But Jesus welcomes him back. Can you imagine the other disciples probably going, well, you're not coming back.
You denied him, right? I can't imagine them doing that. And so if people run away, there's got to be a route back into the church that says, we are welcoming you. Because often when that happens, people just.
They grow and things happen more in their lives when they're given that grace back to come back to the church. We've literally got five minutes left, guys.
So really, really quickly, the whole point of Jesus, all right, is that sin came into the world because of personal gain.
Sin came.
Adam and Eve blew it. And before we pointed the finger to Adam and Eve, all of us were Adam and Eve. All of us were Adam and Eve. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God. And we've been sinners, we've become sinners, all right? And sin came into the world.
But God provided a way for us to come back to Him. He provided that way. And that way was through his own beloved son, Jesus himself on the cross. Right? We are now acceptable to God because when we accept Christ, Christ doesn't go, oh, there, sorry, God doesn't go, oh, there's Esther. She's so clean and perfect and holy, right? God looks at me and sees Jesus through me.
It's because of Jesus. So the whole point of us saying, God, you've taken my life from the pit, you've given me a new life, a new start is because of Jesus. It's because of what Jesus has done.
It is because of the death, the resurrection and the ascension of Jesus. And that's what we're coming to look at over the next couple of weeks. The last question is all about the resurrection and the hope that we have in the resurrection of Jesus. All right, great. That he's given you a new life, but that's going beyond this earth, Right?
So the question to you is, right, how?
In fact, I'll get the actual question. It says, share how the hope of resurrection life, he's now given you that hope for all eternity. All right, maybe have a quick think about that, because I've just thrown that on you. All right, how does knowing that you've now got resurrection life, that you will live beyond the earth, you've got an eternal life with Christ, how does that impact your decisions today? How does it impact you and help you through seasons of loss and trial and challenges? Maybe you want to share even some of the challenges that you have have as a Christian, as a follower of Jesus, but how that hope of resurrection life and a future with Christ kind of helps you on your journey. So we've literally got a couple of minutes, guys, if you want to.
[00:33:35] Speaker C: Yeah, I've got a quick one. I think for me, it's kind of really just highlighted how things on this earth are so temporary, you can't take them with you, that it doesn't matter.
What matters is just serving Jesus on this earth to the best of your ability, and then you've got eternity with him.
So, for example, I had my previous workplace. The company went under about two years ago, and there was a feeling around the office kind of a month or two prior, kind of feel it Something was up. The director wasn't around as much. You know, I feel something was going to happen.
I see all my colleagues being very worried, and I just had this peace in me that was like, whatever's going to happen, if I lose my job, if I end up doing something else, whatever, I'm in the Lord's hands and it's only temporary. It doesn't really matter what happens now.
And as it turned out, the Lord absolutely carried me and our team from that company into another role where we own our own company now, which is such a blessing of His.
But even when there's struggles within that, because it's quite small business of, are we going to make enough this month? Are we going to be okay?
There's just such a peace within me that if we're not, that's because the Lord's got other plans, and I will just do whatever he asked me to do, and it will be fine. And if, you know, there's. There's something that calls me away from that. That job or calls me to do something else, that's not a problem. And then, yeah, there's eternity with him afterwards.
[00:34:59] Speaker A: Has he ever failed you?
[00:35:00] Speaker C: No, absolutely not.
[00:35:03] Speaker A: Yeah. Amazing.
Matt.
[00:35:06] Speaker B: Right.
So kind of following along the story.
Poppy's born 2017.
I'm on this journey of healing, restoration.
And, yeah, my life was sort of crazy, to be honest. I wasn't ready to be a dad. I wasn't ready to live at home as a husband. Never done that before, even though I've been married two years, been just deployed in a way.
So all these things started to kind of, you know, the load comes on your shoulders, your job. I was serving in church.
You know, I thought one child was busy back then. It's not.
But I found myself just breaking down mentally.
And I got to the point where I knew Jesus was with me.
And so I would start to.
I would get to this point where I would.
I was low and I would. This sounds crazy. I'd stand in a cold shower, right? It's meant to help you. But I would affirm over myself the same power that raised Christ from the dead lives in me.
And I would speak the words of Jesus over me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. I am the resurrection and the life. And as I started to speak these words of truth, I did find myself actually start to pull out of that. And it's not just words. It's the truth. And so I was reminding myself of the reality that's already inside of me. And everyone here who is in Christ Jesus, that the old man, the old person is actually dead and buried. Jesus isn't interested in resurrecting that because the Word says that we are a new creation. So through that journey of just going, I have resurrection, power and life inside of me and just taking that into my everyday. The everyday mundane, the workplace, the highs, the lows.
Jesus has healed me, like, really restored me. And it's just through living in that reality, you know, living above your circumstances, the reality that I am with Christ, I'm hidden with Christ at the right hand of the Father in my soul.
But, you know, it's the new man, it's the new me, and living to. To God living fully alive.
[00:37:27] Speaker D: Come on.
Yeah. Just on the back of your question about Jesus coming again one day and how we live, I think it's a brilliant question, and it's kind of formed all of who I am. And even when I was away from God, I knew Jesus was going to come again.
Part of being another hypocrite was in those backslidden, crazy years, you know, if somebody blasphemed in the pub, I'm like, you can't do that. You can't talk. I'd swear I'd carry on and I'd drink and I'd do all sorts, but I'd never blaspheme because I knew God was coming again.
So knowing God was coming again was a massive part of my life. But I think once you've recommitted your life to God, as I did, and for all you young people, there's that decision, there's that baptism, and then there's that daily walk with God, if we're honest. And for me, I needed Kevin, and I encourage you young people. You know, we talk about as iron sharpens iron, if you get a good accountability partner like Nate. When I see you and Sam together and I see all you are, and we've missed you, brother. Like, there's somewhat about having another Christian brother, or if you're a girl with a Christian sister to journey with. And that's not just for young people, that's all of our lives, because times can get tough sometimes. You've given your life to God, you're living for him, but you do know he's coming again one day.
[00:38:43] Speaker C: And.
[00:38:43] Speaker D: And I always used to get the words of my pastor growing up that he used to say in this Brethren Church I was in, but I'll tell you what, they love the word of God. But he would say, if you lukewarm God will spit you out. And it was in my head all the time. I thought, is God going to spit me out? Am I good enough? Am I worthy? Is God going to spit me out? So knowing that Jesus is coming again one day, I do think should sharpen every area of our life to live in the knowledge that he's going to come again one day, and that each year we should hopefully become more like Jesus. And that used to really challenge me as a young man, and having a friend who loved Jesus, who we used to have fun with, go to football with. But then sometimes we'd just go out and say, how are you doing? Where's your walk with God? How are you? And for me, that was essential, but it was always in the light of eternity.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: Brilliant. Great answers. Can we just give these guys a round of applause?
