Well, hello and welcome back to the Speak Life Podcast. My name is Thomas Thurrogood, media producer at Speak Life, and today we have something very exciting to share with you. The inaugural inaugural inaugural. The first episode of our brand new podcast, the 321 podcast. If you've been listening to Speak Life or following our YouTube channel for even a short amount of time, you'll probably know about the 321 course. That's something that Glenn is uh incredibly passionate about. It's his gospel overview, 321, the story of God, the world, and you, talking about the threeness of God, the two-ness of the world, and the oneness of you. And if you go to 321course.com, you can obviously find there the eight videos taking you through who Jesus is and the good news of the gospel. So that's a resource that has been uh used by lots of churches and individuals around the world, and many people have encountered Jesus through it, which is fantastic. We were beginning to get some feedback that a lot of people listen to podcasts, and maybe uh the idea of sitting down and watching a video course is is not something that uh some people are used to, whereas, you know, sticking on a podcast while they're walking the dog or cooking dinner or something like that uh would be would be very helpful. So the 321 podcast effectively goes through uh the content of the course in many ways. It brings up the eight illustrations that Glenn uses in the course, but in a more conversational and personal way. So in the 321 podcast, you have Glenn Scrivener sitting down with Graham and Swazi, and the three of them talk about these ideas very honestly, uh very personally. It's a great thing to do before the 321 course as it's got more of an informal conversational tone to it. So what you're about to hear is the first episode of the 321 podcast talking about the Lost in Space illustration, and you'll hear Glenn Graham and Swazi sharing some dramatic at times, but very personal, very honest reflections of how uh Jesus came into their lives and the difference that that made, and how Jesus reframes the entire conversation as all of us are asking these big questions about the meaning of life. Jesus steps into the world, and whatever you make of him, the claims he's making, uh completely reframe the conversation. So we're only going to put out the first episode of the 321 podcast here in the Speak Life feed. If you want to continue, and we hope you do, you can subscribe to the 321 podcast wherever you get your podcasts. There will be eight episodes and they will come out one a week. But what's really exciting is you don't have to wait. You can go to three to onecourse.com. If you've done the course already, you will already have an account there. But you can go to three to onecourse.com and you'll see buttons leading through to the three to one podcast section, and you will be able to listen to all eight episodes right now. Yes, they're all up there, and you'll be able to watch them as videos shot in the beautiful Hailsham Pavilion Cinema, in fact, the same location where the three two one course itself was filmed. So you don't have to wait uh eight weeks to get all the episodes. You can go to three two onecourse.com, create an account there if you haven't done so already. That's very quick to do. It just asks for an email address and you create a password. But yes, you can watch or listen to all eight of the episodes right now if you go to 321course.com. We had a great time filming this. Max Patterson, who had my job before me, he was involved. He was the the cinematographer for this shoot, and it was great to have his expertise. And we're just so excited to finally be able to share this brand new podcast with you, and we pray that it will be a blessing to you and to your friends. Uh, you may have people in mind who are seeking or who are new believers. And why not check out this podcast first? And if you think it's the sort of thing that would be a blessing to them, then do send it on to them. It's designed to be ultra shareable, really easy to send to people. So without further ado, I will hand straight over to Glenn, Graham, and Swazi for episode one of the 321 podcast. Enjoy.
SPEAKER_03I started to really have a massive crisis of faith of all things that I've been brought up to believe. And my thought was if I'm gonna pass this on to my son, I better at least make sure it's true. Swazi, your world was changed in an instant.
SPEAKER_04Boy, my world was wobbling. For some reason, when you are just caught red-handed and you don't know who else to call on, you're like, God, if you're real, get me out of the situation, I'll never shoplift again. And I'll follow you. In my desperation, I was like, I need help and I need someone to come and get me.
SPEAKER_03All these big moments in life which really make you think, what is it about? What am I doing here? Where is this whole thing going? Is there any hope for it all?
SPEAKER_04We've made it, we've made it. Welcome to the 321 podcast, where we're gonna take a fresh look at life according to Jesus. My name is Swazi, and around the table, I'm joined by two fabulous guys. We've got Graham in the house, Ganon Graham.
SPEAKER_03Hello, Swazi, how are you?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, good, good. And also Mr. Glenn, who wrote 321, by the way. So hello.
SPEAKER_01Hello, Swazi. How are you doing? Yeah, I'm doing really well, thank you. Thanks for having me.
SPEAKER_04Oh, do you know what? You're having us because we are in the cinema where you shot the 321 course. And I've got to say, it's a very gorgeous cinema.
SPEAKER_01It is very nice, the pavilion cinema down here on the south coast. And we shot 321 the course here a couple of years ago.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so shouts goes out to Helsham. But if you don't know anything about 321 or the course and now the podcast, what is it all about, Glenn?
SPEAKER_01Well, as you said, it's a fresh look at life according to Jesus, and so it's a very visual way of just looking at Jesus, and then when you look at him, he gives you a fresh view of God, of the world, of yourself. You can do it in eight sessions, you can binge it in a couple of hours so people can find out more. We'll we'll give plenty of plugs to 321course.com. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay, nice. There's a lot going on. I'm excited. What about your world? What do you do when you're not sitting down and writing a 321 course?
SPEAKER_01So I'm a Church of England minister, but my day job is to kind of go around the place to lots of different churches or schools or universities, talk about Jesus or write about Jesus or make films about Jesus.
SPEAKER_04Nice, okay. We've kind of got a similar world, I guess. I'm in radio, so I host a breakfast show on Saturday mornings. Well, Saturday and Sundays now on One Extra and Radio One. Um, and you've left the world of radio to do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, from national radio to local church. It's quite jump. And a lot of my old colleagues kind of give that cock eyed sort of really but you can still do the segues though.
SPEAKER_01From national radio to local church.
SPEAKER_03I love it. 3, 2, 1. Everything needs a jingle. Life needs a jingle, and uh and I'm happy to provide. But yeah, so I was um working at Radio 2, so just over the road from you, um, producing their breakfast show up until about four or five years ago. Nice. And uh and then stuff changed for me and I started working for a local church. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Was there a big life moment that caused that that to shift?
SPEAKER_03Uh kind of. I think I was going through what I would call a world wobbling moment, which was the world wobbling. Everyone wants to be a world changer. I was a world wobbler at this point. And for me, those world wobbling moments are like births, marriages, deaths, all that. And we were about to have um our first son, his name's Will, and um, as Joe was pregnant, I started to really have a massive crisis of faith, doubt-filled of all the things that I'd been brought up to believe um through my Christian upbringing. And my thought was if I'm gonna pass this on to my son, I better at least make sure it's true. And I hadn't really pressed into those doubts before, and but through uh some kind people helping me through some big difficult questions, I came to see that um there was some real goodness and truth to the whole thing, and I guess that's kind of what we're gonna explore a little bit more in this in this podcast now, and and just reframe how we've all seen life, death, God, all the rest of it. This is a this reframing thing has come up for you before, Glenn, in a very practical way.
SPEAKER_01That's true. So, yeah, 321 is a way of reframing your life around Jesus. And uh part of the origin story for this was I was making a film a few summers ago, and I don't know why during the summer I decided to do a sunrise scene, because you you should probably do it at in winter when when the sun rises at a reasonable hour. But I got up at stupid o'clock, went down to the seafront, and sort of set up my camera to to pick up this sunrise scene, and uh this is probably the most embarrassing moment of my life. So are you ready for this? As a filmmaker, as a filmmaker, uh just in in general, really. So I download this app to point the camera where I thought the sun was gonna rise, and by about kind of 5:30, you know, the sun is turning, the the sky is turning kind of yellows and golds and pinks, and I think this is gonna look beautiful. And then this sort of iridescent golden orb just emerges from the from the sea entirely out of shot. Right.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, I told you.
SPEAKER_01I know, and I was like, but here's the embarrassing thing. For three and a half seconds, as the sun was slicing its way up from out of the ocean, I looked at it and I thought, what is that? How can it be? Because I I knew where the sun was gonna be, right? The sun, I I downloaded the app. I got up at four in the morning. I'm not a moron, am I? Am I? And so literally for three and a half seconds, I'm thinking, is that a ship? Is it an explosion? Is France okay?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um and then literally, literally, around about the three and a half second mark, I genuinely thought, is that a second sun? And then eventually I'm like, okay, I'm I am a moron, and so I just shift the camera and I get half a sunrise. Right. And I have to come again the next day to reshoot. But I think 3-2-1 is this ability to um think, maybe I've been focusing on the wrong things in life, because like we we all kind of get distracted, don't we? And maybe I just need to reframe things. Jesus calls himself the light of the world. Maybe he is the sort of the sun that we can kind of reframe our lives around. And 3-2-1 is an opportunity for people to do that.
SPEAKER_02Wow.
SPEAKER_03There's uh that is a if it was a second sun, it literally would have been a world-wobbling moment.
SPEAKER_01Caught on camera, it was so destabilizing. It was the weirdest three and a half seconds of my life.
SPEAKER_03But it's these big questions of life that help us reframe everything that we thought we knew about the reality of life. Yeah, God, Jesus, everything. And that becomes very real to us when we have these world-wobbling moments. Swazi, you've got another story of how that your world was changed in an instant.
SPEAKER_04Oh boy, my world was wobbling when I was about 40. I think what I knew was I was very good at shoplifting, guys. Like, very, very good at shoplifting.
SPEAKER_01What are the secrets? Are we gonna go into these? No.
SPEAKER_04I mean, you know, for anyone who's shoplifted, one look innocent and don't leave the hanger in the changing room. Because when I did that.
SPEAKER_03Is that what got you?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, boss man was like, um, there's an empty hangar here, and where is the thing that was hanging on the hanger?
SPEAKER_03And you're walking out like the Michelin man.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, rolls of everything, just round. But I guess I've done it so many times, I just got into the habit of of just yeah, walking out shops and just wearing whatever I was taking underneath like my school uniform, basically, until the guy was like, No, something's up. You're you're you're nicking from my from my shop. And I remember him, he just slammed the door shut, he called the police, he made all the other customers leave to the point where I thought, oh my gosh, like this is not the same as it's been before. I'm I've been caught and the police are on the way, and my mum was not going to be happy for me to come home in a police car. And so I just remember thinking, and again, my mum and dad didn't go to church, didn't grow up in church, don't really have a church background. But for some reason, when you are just caught red-handed and you don't know who else to call on, you're like, God, if you're real, get me out of the situation, I'll never shoplift again, and I'll follow you. And looking back now, that's a very churchy prayer. But in my desperation, I was like, I need help and I need someone to come and get me. And as soon as I said amen, maybe I said it out loud because he put down the phone to the police, he opened the doors and he said, just go. And I turned around thinking, What? He was so set on on you know, the the cop is coming to take me to the a complete switch of character, and he let me go. And I thought, maybe there is a God. Maybe all of this wobbling moment is to refocus me and say, actually, there is a God who heard your cry, who heard your your prayer, and he's done the thing that you did not deserve to happen, but he's let you go free. So, yeah, that's how I I joined a local church, heard the gospel, became a Christian, had loads of questions, but I think, yeah, I'm glad God wobbled my world in such a way that he would reframe it as well.
SPEAKER_03And actually, Jesus at that point entered into your story, entered into your world in quite an immediate way. For others, it'll be a slower, longer-term thing, and there won't be just a one-off world wobbling moment like that, but a series. So the world I'm in now, having come out of radio into I work for a local church, and when you're walking alongside people dealing with death, disease, divorce, depression, it's all these big moments in life which really make you think like what what is it about? What am I doing here? Uh where is this whole thing going? Is there any hope for it all? And um uh like you described, Swazi, like Jesus can enter, or at least the claim of Christianity is that he has entered with some of the biggest answers to our biggest questions. And and Glenn, this is kind of where 321 starts on 321course.com with the idea of of Jesus entering in. You have a great kind of illustration for that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, because because otherwise, if no one enters in, you just crack on with life. As you know, you wake up, you go to go to work, you come home, and it's just daily grind, daily grind, daily grind. We we kind of need these these moments to kind of break in. So, one way I I think of telling the sort of an in-breaking story is to tell a sci-fi story, okay? And so if you go to 321course.com, you'll you'll see our animation uh for what this looks like. Okay, so picture this. Uh, Sasha awakes on a space station with no memory of how she got there and no idea who she is. Okay. And she pads around the space station, kind of wondering what kind of monster would allow her to be in such a predicament. And then she meets Doc, who's this scientist guy, and Doc says, Don't worry, I've been around the place, I've done some measurements, I've figured out the calculations. Clearly, somebody very intelligent has designed this spaceship, they've designed this whole experience for us. I'm not quite sure who's done it, but I think we're gonna be okay. My science gives me a good feeling about this. And uh and then she keeps on walking around the space station station, she meets this other person called Hope, and Hope is not quite like Doc. She's she's just more of a dreamer, but she looks out at the the s the constellations and and she figures it's a beautiful place to be, and she's just got a gut feeling that somebody out there likes her. And so Hope is is hopeful about you know why she's there. But I guess Sasha is skeptical. Sasha's like, well, I'm glad you've got a good feeling, hope, and I'm glad I'm glad you've done your calculations, Doc. But from what I can tell, this is a horror movie. From what I can tell, this is like and and can we shut up about what's beyond the space station and who might have designed it? And can we just try and make the space station as good as we we possibly can? And so for me, that's a picture of life, really. Like we we wake up on planet Earth and we're not quite sure who is behind all of this, whether they can be trusted, is there a designer? Is there a reason to have hope? We don't really know. And some people are like hope, they've just got a gut feeling that somebody up there likes me, you know. Some people are like Doc, and their science might lead them to think that the world's been well designed, so maybe there's some kind of a spiritual force out there that we can trust. But I think a lot of people are like Sasha. They're just like, well, shut up about what's beyond this life. I don't really know about what's beyond this life, but life is whatever we see it to be in the here and now, and let's just try and make the here and now as good as we can possibly make it. So I reckon though there are those three kinds of people, but there's there's probably more kinds of people. But who do you guys lean towards?
SPEAKER_04Oh, I think I lean towards now when you say it like that, like hope having a good feeling. You know, sometimes I'm just tempted to be like the delulu of that. Like, what do you mean a good feeling out of out of what? What would give you that good feeling as opposed to a bad feeling? But I think I secretly lean towards Doc. I like the idea that if there are facts and science to uphold there it that you know, this thing is meant to work in this way. Whenever I order something from, you know, IKEA or Amazon, if that thing doesn't come with a manual, I'm lost. I'm not the one that's gonna be like trying to fit this bolt or this thing. No, no, no, no. So I take comfort in there being a manual or a design. Um and one of my friends actually, she she works in the hospital and and just fascinating her world. And she was just saying, when when women are pregnant and if they are pregnant with a baby girl, your baby girl before you give birth has all her eggs, and so that mum is potentially carrying her grandchildren at the time of carrying her daughter, and something like that, yeah. My mind is like, do you know what I mean? And I just don't I'm not that person to lean towards oh, that's just all come together. There must be such an intricate design which tells me something about the person who's designed that to happen because my small brain couldn't have thought of something like that to happen, and I just think, yeah, there must be more, and so yeah, Doc is probably my my guy. I would I would sit with Doc, I think. Yeah, okay.
SPEAKER_03How about you? I'm sat in the middle somewhere because I can look at what you've said, like Doc, and I think as we look at the world, and we're all happy to use words like design and creation, but very rarely designer and creator. But then I look at someone like Hope and think, yeah, but you're just a little bit off with uh your own thoughts and you know wishful thinking. So I kind of look at both of them, and I I think the fundamental question is like you say, Glenn, of if if life is like that space station of how do we get here, where are we going, what are we meant to be doing whilst we're here? I don't think either Doc or Hope fully can answer those questions. Yeah, what about you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's why I think I lean towards Sasha. Like it, like, even though I'm a Christian and all of that, I I think if this is the only information we have to go on, like who knows? And the Sashas of this world are, yeah, they might be skeptical, but they're also pragmatic, and they're also just well, let's just make this world as good a place as we can make it. There's there's one life, let's live it. You know, it's that kind of bumper sticker feel, you know.
SPEAKER_03So if that's where we're all at, we're all kind of somewhere between Doc, Sasha, Hope, still left with those big questions of life. Like, what actually do we do with that? What do we need?
SPEAKER_02What do we need?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Because a lot of people will say, I don't think I'm either Sasha or or Doc or Hope, and and people can come up with all sorts of different characters and and how they might react to the space station. And that's all good because the story is not over. Okay. Here's what happens next. The ship shudders, you hear this like loud crash, and an airlock opens. A man appears, he's out of breath, and he takes off his space helmet. And after the break, after the break, I'll let you know. Who is this? I'm the manager.
SPEAKER_04Who is it? Okay, let's go.
SPEAKER_03It's Jesus.
SPEAKER_04Spoiler alert. If you're enjoying this podcast and want to go deeper, we have got plenty of things for you to check out.
SPEAKER_01That's right. If you go to 321course.com, you can start an account. It's completely free, and you'll have access to all the 321 materials.
SPEAKER_03There's the 321 course itself, taking a fresh look at Christianity. There are eight videos with stunning animations.
SPEAKER_04There are some FAQ questions that cover lots of tricky things that people often ask when talking about Christianity.
SPEAKER_01And there's a Bible reading plan that takes you through John's gospel in bite-sized chunks.
SPEAKER_03There's the online community where you can interact with other listeners of the 321 podcast and put your questions to Glenn himself.
SPEAKER_04And if that wasn't enough, you can watch the 321 podcast episode shot in the beautiful pavilion cinema.
SPEAKER_01It is all completely free, so go to 321course.com. That's 321course.com, start an account and start exploring life according to Jesus.
SPEAKER_03So Glenn, uh, life is like that spaceship. And we got to the part of the story where the airlock opens, a man walks through, removes his helmet, uh, and that changes the conversation somewhat, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_01What happens next? Like if Hope, Doc, and Sasha are having a big Barney about what is the meaning of the spaceship, they might have their theories, they might get into like a massive argument about the nature of the ship, and and Hope disagrees with Sasha who disagrees with Doc. Now, is the rest of the story gonna be them coming up with theories? Actually, no, the story is interrupted by this fourth figure because the fourth figure takes his helmet off and they they're like, Where are you from? And he says, I'm from home. And they say, Who are you? He says, I'm the rescue. Now, does that change the conversation in the space station? It has to, doesn't it? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04If I'm hearing rescue, I'm thinking rescue from what?
SPEAKER_03I'm right. I think you've got questions for a start. Like rescue from what? I think the first question is who are you? What's the plan? Like what rescue from what? How will you rescue? Yeah. Prove it.
SPEAKER_04Like Yeah, prove it.
SPEAKER_03How can I trust you?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04Um what's home? Where's home?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, right, yeah. Has he just come from another part of the space station? Has he just woken up and he's got cabin fever? He's got delusions of grandeur? Like, what is it?
SPEAKER_03Is he just one of us who's kind of interrupting it and he's got himself a bit confused about who he who he is and what he's there to do?
SPEAKER_01Or has he come from somewhere really dark and bad? Right? I'm the rescue, he says, and he's about to take you off to some kind of infested planet with arachnids and I don't know. Um and what do we need to do?
SPEAKER_03What what what do you require of us?
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_03What do you need from me? If what's the what's the plan? What's the rescue plan? And what do you need for from me? But in your story, Glenn, this this figure, and we circle right back around to where we start with kind of Jesus entering your your world. Jesus kind of is this figure in in the Bible story.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. He he has done in history what that spaceman did on the space station. He well, he certainly claims to have come from beyond. He certainly claims to come from that place that Doc says is, you know, very intelligent and has ordered the world well. He certainly claims to come from that place where hope says, Oh, I've got this funny feeling in my stomach, it's gonna be okay. He he claims to come from heaven, and he claims to be the rescue who can take us from this horror scenario of life on planet Earth and our heartbeats are running out one at a time. And he claims to want to take us home where we actually belong. And whatever you make of life, whatever you make of Jesus, I think his claims about himself, they they sort of change the conversation.
SPEAKER_03Because at this point, it's not that we have to believe what the rescuer figure in the story says. We we've still got a ton of questions. Yeah. But the questions that we'd asked to the spaceman are the questions you'd you'd want to ask of Jesus. Like, how can we trust you? Where did you come from? Where are we going? Because if he is who he says he is, maybe he does have answers to those fundamental questions of life. Where did we come from? Where are we going? What are we meant to be doing here? Uh what's the plan? What Jesus, what are you rescuing us from? Because if that's the claim of Christianity that he is some kind of rescue and there's a plan in place, like, well, tell me what what it is. And so your rescuer story, it's not that we 100% believe you yet, Glenn, if I'm honest. Yeah, no, so I've still got questions for the for the figure in the story, for Jesus, I suppose. Yeah. But at least there's we're not grasping around for someone to ask them too. We've got to interrogate the spaceman. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like every other question that the the space station people would have, it kind of finds its center in Jesus. It's like all their questions are like iron filings that are sort of flinging to this electromagnet. And whatever questions they have that about the space station, now they are questions for this man. And I think that's that's true of Jesus. Like whatever questions we have about what life is about, well, here's a guy who's making a unique claim to come from beyond and he knows what it's all about. So now all those questions can at least find a center. Yeah. And we can we can we can kind of ask them of Jesus himself rather than just wonder them aloud.
SPEAKER_03Are they really the claims of Jesus? Like, can you point us to places in the Bible where Jesus really is claiming to be some sort of rescue? I I've got friends and people that I talk to at times who say he never really claimed to be some sort of rescue, he just is one of us. Some stories got out of hand. I know this is stuff we're gonna get into in other episodes in the podcast, but but really does does Jesus claim to be not just a help in some sort of rescue plan, but you said the the rescue. I am the rescue. Yeah. Where does he say that?
SPEAKER_01I mean, think of his name. His name is Jesus, which is a Hebrew word that just means God saves, right? So that's a good start.
SPEAKER_04So it's gonna say rescue, yeah. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_03I've got Graham.
SPEAKER_01What does Graham mean?
SPEAKER_03You know what? There is a for another episode, but it's not as pretty and as uh fanciful and grand as a Jesus, God saves.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, he's clear, he is God to the rescue. But like in Luke's Gospel, chapter 19, verse 10, Jesus says, I have come to seek and save the lost. So there's a great superhero kind of a statement, I've come to seek and save the lost. Or he here's one that I'm constantly thinking about in John's Gospel, the fourth biography of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus in John chapter 17, it's the night before he dies, he's praying and he prays, Father, you loved me before the foundation of the world. And then he says, I want these people to be with me where I am, right? So who is Jesus? He's older than the universe, he is at least as old as the God that he's praying to, and he says, Father, you loved me before the foundation of the world, and what he's come to do is to get us into the place where he is. If you can imagine, he's like, There's like this Niagara falls of love crashing down from the Father to the Son, and Jesus is like, that's what the world was like before there was a universe. There was love, the Father loving me, and the joy of the Holy Spirit. We'll get into that in in future episodes. But this is who Jesus is. He's older than the universe, he's been in on this love. That's what home is, and he says, My whole point in coming is so that you can join me where I am in that love.
SPEAKER_03And whether or not we believe him at this point, we at least understand that that is what his claim is about himself.
SPEAKER_01It's the most huge galactic claim you could possibly do.
SPEAKER_04I think if you all of the three characters who I may have thought, oh I'm a bit like this person, I think hearing the word rescue, the imminent sense of danger like throws everyone else again. When I was in that shop, it didn't matter about any other theory of how we got here, where I'm going. All I cared about was how do I get out of this shop and not into a police car. I think the the immediate sense of danger or sense of I need to get out, I need to be rescued, it just tops any sense of you know, like logic or you know, it is just the in the present, present feeling. So if he steps in, I might have to be like, Doc, you know, your plans are cute and that, but there seems to be something that we need to be saved from.
SPEAKER_03I totally agree. But the when I picture the space station, I picture like a red flashing warning light somewhere, like you're saying there's something I need to be saved from, but I imagine the warning light flashing, but no sound, so no one's really paying attention to it, apart from you might notice this kind of warning light, and our world is full of red warning lights, and and it feels like you've got to be really paying attention to see okay, just look at the world around you. Like there is a ton of stuff you think the world isn't as it should be. Uh, you you only have to open your news app for about 10 seconds to see that the world is inherently there's there's something broken about the place and the people.
SPEAKER_01But you know what we do? Uh because the news app is like that, we we just kind of flick off the news app and then we we just watch a TikTok video instead. And we let's watch some cat videos, let's let's let's and we kind of distract ourselves. So, like you could imagine there's like a fifth figure on the space station, let's call him Sebastian, right? And he's just on a sun lounger under this UV lamp and he's ordering cocktails, right? And and life is kind of okay for Sebastian right now, and then the rescuer comes in, he says, Do you want to go with me? Like, I'm good, yeah, I'm good.
SPEAKER_03What what what warning lights? Rescue from what? That's the thing, isn't it? And I think a lot of people could also relate to Sebastian, they might not be living a life of luxury, but they're certainly not aware of any need to be rescued from anything. Right, right.
SPEAKER_01And and what happens in life is that I I think a lot of people are not ready to hear from Jesus or to think deeply about Christian things, kind of because life is just going on the way it's always gone on.
SPEAKER_03But if you're any of those characters on the spaceship, if a man walks in and says, I'm the rescue, even if you're not ready to hear that, like you at least need to consider what he's just said. It at least changes the temperature of the spaceship somewhat, it changes the conversation because you have to say now, well, is he or isn't he? Yeah, is he legit or not?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah, it's like if you're if you're swimming and a lifeguard sort of pops up next to you and says, Come with me, you're like, Oh, I thought I was fine. Yeah. He was like, No, there's a riptide, you had no idea. At that point, you've got to like, do I trust the guy with the red and yellow silly hat on or not? And if he's wearing the red and yellow silly hat, then maybe he knows more than I know.
SPEAKER_03We had a like a safety briefing in here before we started recording in this lovely cinema, and the guy sort of said where the fire exits were, and that's okay. Like if he popped up again and said, guys, the fire exits, the fire exits, like okay. But if at first he was to say no, the fire, and so the fire exits, like we need to be woken up to there are some warning lights, there are some things we need rescuing from, both in the world and in ourselves, perhaps, even. Again, we may be going a little far down track here, but certainly if you have your eyes open to the warning lights in the world, you go, nah, I I can see why at least someone might say there's a need for a rescue.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. It's what's so funny. I was on the train um in London on the underground, and one of the TFL like attendants had come on to say, There's a fire down here, like we need to evacuate. And me, I picked up all my bags, I said, You don't need to tell me twice. Um people sat down. People stayed sitting down. And this woman was sat down with her son in the buggy, and she didn't move, and I was like to her, babes, like we need to, we need to go. Like, she was like, Oh, I'm sure it'll be fine. So I thought I second guessed myself, I thought, oh, maybe we'll be fine. And then the TFL guy came again, and he was like, guys, there's a fire. We need to, we need to evacuate. So then I got up from the carriage and was like, guys, we need to get off of the of this carriage, we need to go. And I think I was just really shocked that people were either getting up like me and they were like, see you later, I'm I'm out. Whether or not I've seen the fire, smelt the fire, if I'm told there's a fire, I'm out. And other people were quite like when the fire comes and burns my shoes, that's enough. That's it. Okay.
SPEAKER_03I would be the first off that train, by the way. I would be so far gone. If those guys are f- Oh, he's gone.
SPEAKER_04So it is a strange thing, isn't it? When someone and I thought, how how strange must that TFL guy have felt that he's risking his life to come down to tell us we need to get off and people just don't listen. So I wonder if the rescuer, if people, you know, listen or don't listen, you're trying to, you know, I think of times when I'm saying I'm trying to help you, and that person's like, it's okay. I'm like, it's not okay. Yeah. I'm trying to help you.
SPEAKER_01But if a random guy got up in the middle of the carriage and said there's a fire, like nobody's listening, not even you're listening to him at that stage. Like you needed the TFL guy to have the uniform, to have the authority, he's got the badge, he's got the the intercom thing. Like, yeah, you need to be able to trust that person. And that that and again, that's that's the question. Like, can you trust the person who's bringing the warning? And Jesus comes and he says, I am the rescuer. You know, that's that's kind of my name. And you might not have thought that you needed rescue, but do you trust this guy? He seems to speak with authority, he seems to do the sort of things that you would expect somebody from outside the system to do. Um, but it's it really just boils down to can we trust this guy?
SPEAKER_03So so zooming out, where are we? Uh we are life is like that spaceship. We're all asking those big questions of life. Uh, a man enters in and says, I am the rescue. And so wherever you're at in those character um plot lines, this man has claimed to be some sort of rescue. We need to interrogate the spaceman.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. We need to be able to do that. I've got questions.
SPEAKER_03We've got questions. Like, how do we know you're for real? Rescue from what? What's my part in all this? And so that is exactly what we're gonna do in the next episode, episode two. Uh, if you can hit subscribe because we need to keep talking. Uh we'd love to get episode two in wherever you get your your podcasts, and we will carry on the conversation. Hit the subscribe button, drop us a rating, a comment. It all helps to share what we're doing here as we take a fresh look at life through the lens of Jesus.