The Speak Life Podcast, sharing Jesus in everyday life.
SPEAKER_00Hello everybody, welcome to the LiveCast. My name is Paul Feesey, and today I'm here not with Glenn but with Pete. Hey, how are you doing? You might remember Pete, you've um you're on uh it was weeks ago now, wasn't it? How many weeks into the internship was it? It was. It might have been number two, I think. Yeah, number two. So Pete's one of our interns here, um, and as I said, he was on the live cast when we were kind of meeting on the interns uh a few weeks back. Glenn uh is not around today, he's a little bit under the weather, um, so do be praying for him, he's not feeling too great. Um, but we're really pleased to have uh Pete here with us. Um we are thinking about Christmas. So uh Pete, are you getting in the festive mood?
SPEAKER_01Uh no, no, I'm I'm not a really festive kind of guy until until the 22nd of December. I feel like it's kind of a bit more acceptable then. My wife's pretty festive.
SPEAKER_00Yeah? Yeah. Well when's uh when is acceptable to start celebrating Christmas?
SPEAKER_01So so Beth will say uh the sort of the first weekend of December. It might include the last day of November if that's a Saturday. Oh okay, so I think that's absurd. I think that's just a terrible way to be. So yeah, yeah, sort of the last week before Christmas is for me. I I yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_00See, I I'm very much adamant you need to get to at least into December. Anything before that is just outrageous as far as I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_01Well, yeah, no, absolutely, absolutely. Because there's no cap on that, is there? You could just every year get a bit closer.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, just get better.
SPEAKER_01Ridiculous, ridiculous way.
SPEAKER_00We did get our tree. Have you got your tree up yet?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, well we're actually uh we're gonna be in Suffolk for Christmas. So we've got we've got three weeks back home, so uh so yeah, after this week we'll be heading back. So for now we've got like a little Christmas, it's more of a bush than a tree. Little Christmas bush.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've we have got our tree up. We wouldn't normally have got it up so that we put it up the first weekend of December. We wouldn't normally go that early, but it's because there was 25% off Christmas trees, so we're just straight in there. So yes. Um so yeah, we're thinking about Christmas, um, and I guess all of us are inundated with Christmas stuff at the moment, whether you're working in a church and you know this is probably your busiest season, um, or you know, if you're just kind of the everyday kind of Christian in the pew, like Christmas is pretty crazy as well. I'm certainly finding this stuff on, particularly with kids, something on everyday, basically, end of term parties and carol services. So we're trying to think a bit a bit today about how we make the most of our kind of Christmas services and preaching. And we're gonna think a bit about our services. We're gonna do that quite briefly, hopefully. Um, and then we're gonna think a bit more about the everyday stuff that we can do. Um, but we were talking a bit earlier about just general things we could do. I mean, we'll be whatever church we're in, I imagine we'll be having carol services and Chris Dingles, and you know, you may have a whole wealth of services going on. Um, and there's just a number of things we talked about you can do to kind of help people as they come in through the door. Um, and one of them really is just having good hospitality. Um you know, I think it's easy to overlook that in the kind of what are we going to speak about, you know, what's the place gonna, you know, how do you get the whole place dressed up, but actually just having a warm welcome for people. Um, and it seems like an easy thing, but actually to do it well, I think is a skill. Yeah. You know, to have a team of people that will, when you come through the door, they immediately kind of make you feel at home, they can show you where you're going. Um and also very practical things. You know, we were talking, weren't we, about um you know, putting good food on, you know, everyone wants mince pie. Oh, definitely. Are you a mince pie and mould wine uh mould wine? Mold wine guy.
SPEAKER_01Mold wine guy.
SPEAKER_00Mold wine guy.
SPEAKER_01I'm not a mince pie and mould wine guy.
SPEAKER_00No, I I uh Do you like Christmas at all, Pete?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no, I'm okay with it. I'm okay with it, but oh, hello.
SPEAKER_00Just the headphones. No, um no, but for people you know, they do like to come in. And I think Glenn actually tweeted about the the mold wine after services, and the Americans were shocked that we had mold wine and like for them it wasn't a normal thing, but it's a very normal thing over here, isn't it? Um just talking about lots of other things as well, about just again things we take for granted that you know, when you get up to speak in church, if you're the vicar or something, or whoever's leading services, it's just really helpful to say, Hi, I'm so and so, I work here or whatever, you know, this is who I am, because the average person who comes through the door has never probably never seen you before.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um yeah, 100%. I think the average person who walks through the door, there's there's every chance they're gonna be a bit apprehensive about what a church service is going to involve. Um, you know, certainly for me growing up, I wasn't I wasn't around church, and and the times I did go, uh they were they were kind of confusing times, you know. Yeah, you go in and and I think a lot of the time there's this prior knowledge expected, you know, where do you go, where do you sit, when do you stand? You just you know that's a whole minefield, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Because you were talking a bit a bit about um communion and stuff, which is a brave choice, I think, for churches to do communion in carol services and things like that.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, massive, massive. But yeah, I I think one of my one of my things with communion is uh you know, I like to see it carefully explained, um, just just you know, presented with visitors in mind. And and that's not to say you you make it about them and take the focus off Christ, but it but it is it is to say, look, it's something that a lot of people coming in for the first time probably haven't seen anywhere else, you know, certainly from my generation and younger, the only place they'll have seen it is in movies. So um, yeah, actually it's just taking 30 seconds to explain and say, Look, this is what this is and this is why we do it. And I think just even that 30-second explanation just brings people's concerns down a level and because you can do that in just so many things, can't you?
SPEAKER_00About even the standing up, sitting down, singing thing. So I think what we do at our carol service every year is at the beginning someone gets up and says, you know, this is what's gonna happen. And the service they always say the service will be unannounced. Right. So things are just gonna run through one thing to the next. But it does come up on the screen, you know, when a song says it says, you know, just the choir are gonna do this piece or stand and stuff. Um and you know, taking if you do a kind of lessons and carols, putting readings up on the screen is a really useful thing. Um, I mean, I it's very, very difficult to get people to flick through a Bible quickly enough in that setting to find something. So putting all in your order of service, much kind of a better way. I think it just helps people feel at home and comfortable with what's going on and not feeling like, oh my goodness, should I be this, that one right now?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you know, I think if people are coming in and feeling as though they're the the the odd one out, they're the the the kind of one that stands out of the crowd and doesn't know what they're doing, but but everybody else is clear on stuff, then um, you know, I I think they've got stuff going on in their mind that's distracting them from the main thing, and and uh, you know, that's obviously obviously not ideal. So yeah, just making things as accessible as possible is it's always going to be a win, I think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And and another thing I guess we talked about was um the follow-up is is a great opportunity for follow-up after Christmas because you do get so many people who come through the door who you know you don't see the rest of the year. Um and people, you know, I I find people are generally quite positive about what they experience. Um you know, I I think last year in our church, pretty much through every service, I think we run the one-minute trailer for Life Explored because we were going to run that course in January. And that was very much on the table. I think there was a handout as well, you know, there was something you could take away and fill it in or get in touch. Um or a lot of a lot of years, I think last year as well we had the uh you know, those kind of books you get which cost about a pound each, but you can give them away for free. Um so I think you know, you can have a copy of the gift. You know, just like in the book. Um who is watching? There he is, he's tuning in from bed. Is he? Yep, yeah. Oh, imagine that. Not even up yet, lazy. So but you know, those are things that kind of people can people can then take away and and you know, take away a book and they can read that at their leisure, or you know, if they they're a bit more kind of up for getting involved, maybe coming to a course or something, just having another avenue for people to plug into afterwards is a really useful thing, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Definitely, and and everybody's so different as well. So having different options on the table is is is gonna be a positive thing. Um, you know, what uh you know, I've been part of kind of welcome teams at churches before, and there's always this big discussion around, you know, do we do we get out to every person? Do we give people a bit of space to, you know, how does that kind of work best?
SPEAKER_00And it's it's a tricky mindfield, really, because like I say, people are so different, but you know, we've we've got to we've got to just trust God with it, I guess, and and uh you know and so I mean that there are lots of things you can you can think of in terms of just making sure your service and environment is one that's going to be conducive for the person coming in. Um but also we want to think a bit about actually preaching. Now you used to work in a church, as did I. Did you do much Christmas preaching at all? Yeah, how did you find kind of Christmas preachers?
SPEAKER_01I loved it to be fair. I'm I'm shamelessly Jesus focused. You know, I just an excuse to get up and present the gospel, talk about Jesus. And uh, you know, I'm I'm not a big uh kind of apologetics guy. I I don't care about too too much of an intellectual debate on on questions like that. I you know, I just want to get up and go, hey, look at Jesus, isn't he great? Isn't he great? What do you think of Jesus? Um so for me, uh you know, Christmas is is obviously the ideal opportunity to do that. Um, and you know, within the Christmas story, we see something that that you don't see anywhere else in in world faith or world religion. You see God come down, God become a man and step into our mess for us. So uh talk about Jesus, talk about grace, be shameless with it.
SPEAKER_00It's absolutely that's what we want to be front and centre, isn't it? And and I we you know you do hear of churches who people can go to carol services and the name of Jesus doesn't really get mentioned, at least not in a preach in any substantial way. Um so I always enjoyed Christmas preachers, um whether it was school assemblies or carol services, you know, things like that. Um but part of the challenge I found every year was how do I not just repeat exactly the same sermon I did last year? And so it was kind of how do we keep it fresh? And by that I don't mean oh we've got to bring a new idea, but um I didn't just want to do the same old one each time round. And so we just had a little think early on about you know some of the ones I've come across or have done. And maybe, you know, if you're maybe you're uh it doesn't matter whether you're a pastor of a church or a youth worker or someone who runs a study group or whatever, sometimes it's just helpful to have an idea of oh, here's an angle I could take that might work. So we're just going to run through some very quickly so you can think about these. So one that I personally the one I probably enjoyed doing most was the idea of Christmas being a time about light shining in the darkness. And so, you know, you could speak on um, you know, traditional Christmas passages like Isaiah 9, you know, the people walking in darkness have seen a great light. Um, or there was a a time when I spoke on the first few verses in John um about the kind of light uh coming in uh to the world. Um and I think the thing that was good, the thing I like about that kind of angle is I think one thing it's easy for us to do as Christians is say when the non-Christian comes through the door, hey, Christmas isn't just about having a big knees up and stuff. And I think what you can do with those passages when you talk about the light in the darkness is um you you can speak to the person who for whom Christmas doesn't feel like a big knees up, you know. So because actually for ever for a lot of people, even if they're having an entirely secular Christmas, it's not necessarily a big knees up just because they haven't got Jesus. Um life is full of darkness and there's a lot of terrible stuff that goes on. And you know, I guess I mean one of the things in all of this is knowing your your congregation, you know, and even if there are people you'd you probably know your area, even if you don't know the individuals sometimes who are coming in. Um but whether you come from one of the a wealthy area or whether you come from a very deprived area, there's always gonna be darkness in people's lives, whether that's on the surface or it's you know hidden away. Um and so this idea of you know there is a light that shines into this darkness, there's a hope there. Um, you know, and what are you gonna do? Are you gonna come to the light or will you run from it? I think that's a really powerful uh thing to speak on. I like that one.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely, and I yeah, I think you touched on a really important point there, which is like actually, you know, by and large, we want to present this idea of Christmas being this sort of happy family time, which you know you hope and pray for a lot of people. Of course, it will be, but um, you know, there's always gonna be uh a huge proportion of people for whom Christmas is actually just tough, actually just really hard, and there's you know tangible darkness uh for them, and uh you know, even you know, things go hand in hand, don't they? You know, you you've kind of got that that picturesque Hollywood style Christmas, and and yet still there's this this something missing, there's something kind of going on in in your heart and in your mind where you just think, oh, you know, there's there's that there's that piece missing. So I you know, I I I think um for me I feel a little uncomfortable with some of the some of the the way of celebrating Christmas where it's just everything's perfect, everything's wonderful, and actually for a lot of people, if they're being honest, they would say, gosh, actually Christmas is a hard time, you know, and so we we don't need to shy away from that, we need to confront that head on and say, Look, actually, gosh, there's a lot of darkness out there, but but we have a great light.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, um so another one we can think about is the idea of uh so Emmanuel and actually you know God with us is one of my uh one of my favorite kind of names used in the Bible, actually, that idea. So, you know, there's a passage there you could preach on. Um, you know, what is in a name? Well, you know, what does this name tell us about this baby who's being born and his identity and who he is and what he's come to do? And I think um Glenn and I may have talked about this in the past, about this kind of Athanasian idea of uh this quote here in this marvellous exchange, he being Jesus becomes what we are, that we might become what he is. Um and you know, there's just lots of ways in there, aren't there, about the God who comes to be with us. Again, uh again, for even for people walking in a dark times, there's a message there. Um you can pick up on your classic carols, you know, veiled in flesh, the Godhead see. Um, a great little way in just aware that I want to whip through these now, just having so that's a great one you can talk on. Um Philippians 2, perhaps there's a little more off kind of piece, but it's not a kind of traditional kind of Christmas one, but the you know, the idea of Christ, you know, stepping down and making himself man, becoming obedient even to death and pouring himself out for the sake of others. And you know, for the person who comes through the door and they're wondering what is God like, who is this God you speak of, or here is the God who pours himself out to the extent that he becomes a baby in a manger, weak and helpless. Um I think that is a it's not one that it's not one you hear all the time. Um and I just think it's a really good angle, and I I think um I think I think I heard Glenn speak on that at some point, you know, and you think about I think he likened it to opening your front door and the queen being there and saying, I've come to do some cleaning, you know. Imagine like her stooping down to that level, but Christ has come even further, and I think that's a great way in there. Um we we were uh thinking about the reason for the season, that kind of classic uh phrase that gets used. And actually um Ben, one of our interns, was saying about speaking with his family, um, and or a little talk he'd given uh about the reason for the season being you uh or us, you know, that Jesus has to come because uh of us and the our problem that we have. And so uh the the reason is us, but it's not about us, which I thought was really helpful uh thing there. Um and he talked about um grounding that Jesus uh Jesus the Jesus story in the bigger story, um you know, the grand narrative of that had been set beforehand from the you know the prophets and what was prophesied and stuff, which I thought was really helpful, and again just a great angle. Um maybe another angle you could take is to think about the the idea of Jesus being a gift. That one's probably been done quite a lot. Um you know, what's the best gift you could get this Christmas? Um unwrap the gift, you know, make sure the gift gets unwrapped, so that's a great one. Um Christmas the Christmas tree one is one I've enjoyed um either as a standalone or just as part of a talk as well. And I think this is you know, um Glenn has certainly used this a number of times that actually we're like the Christmas tree that is being cut down, you know, cut off from its natural environment, you know, wrench from its natural environment, cut off from its source of life. And actually the des what's the destination of the Christmas tree? Well, it's the rubbish dump and it looks good for a while. Um and we dress it up in baubles, but eventually it's gonna die in the uh well, it is dead, and all the needles are gonna drop off. I remember actually leaving my uh I found my Christmas tree one year. Um I'd left it in the back garden after Christmas and I found it on Easter Day. Wow and it was certainly uh it didn't rise to new life unfor on that day. It was certainly dead. Um yeah, good work. But uh I think we had one for I think we had one for a good year.
SPEAKER_01Like, yeah, this is the sort of thing I shouldn't say out loud. Why why tell people that?
SPEAKER_00But yeah, but you know, a great image there uh of us being like the Christmas tree that we are the ones who are cut off from our source of life from our relationship with God, and actually we need to be grafted back into the the Christ tree. Um and actually, all we do in you know our lives of dressing ourselves up in trying to look good and do good deeds is just like baubles on the tree that's heading for the dump. So that's uh a good one there. Um preaching uh that Jesus arriving is good news of great joy, so the kind of Luke 2 stuff, you know, appearing to angels appearing to the shepherds, and you know, here is the one who is saviour, messiah, and lord, and you know, they're saying, Well, this is they're announcing this as good news, so let's preach it as good news. Um, I think that's definitely a way forward. Um, I've certainly spoken about uh Herod before, um being struck that you know Herod's what what what I'd kind of overlooked a number of times when reading the Herod story is that he knows that the Christ is being born, and he must know who the Christ is in the sense that the Christ who the Christ figure is. Um but yet he still wants to see the back of him, you know. So he he knows that this is God's chosen king, but yet he doesn't want anything to do with him. Um and there's a sense in which there's only room for one king in his life, um, and that's him. And you know, whether we want to preach that and say, you know, well, it's not really the case that we're king of our life anyway, or whether you want to say we just need to, you know, let Jesus be the king, either way. I think the thing that's amazing what we can say at the end of that is that although Jesus comes and he is the king, and we want to sort of put Jesus on the throne, the amazing thing is that in Revelation Jesus invites us onto the throne as well. So and we share in his rule. So there is this kind of well, there's this invite to come and rule with Christ as there too, so it's not like a subservient thing. So there's an angle there from the story. Um and you know, there are various other ones we could, I'm sure we could uh think more about. But actually, I'm keen to get on to the everyday stuff. So I mean if you're if you're a preacher or you're doing stuff there, hopefully there's some uh things in there which you can use and different angles you can take. Um but we want to think about this kind of witnessing an everyday setting. And Pete, you've come up with uh 10 10 kind of points of things we can think about as Christians, kind of in the run-up to Christmas, um, and witnessing an everyday life. So do you want to maybe start taking us through a couple of those?
SPEAKER_01Sure, yeah. So I I suppose the first thing to say is uh a little disclaimer, which is that you know, we're not obviously claiming to be experts, we're not claiming these are the definitive way. Well, I I want to claim my body. But um, but yeah, you know, I for me I want to say actually, you know, this isn't 10 definitive ways to do it. This is just um, you know, a combination of of learnings through good and bad, um where we're saying actually look, give these things, give these things a bit of a try. You know, people people back home might listen to this and say, Oh, you know, that that wouldn't work for me. That's that's great. Actually, if that gets you thinking down a path of how would I do it differently, um, then that's still that's still helpful. Absolutely. Um so 10 suggestions. Um, and the first one, uh the first one's been covered uh for a lot for a long time in a lot of ways, but it you know, you gotta you gotta start with prayer. We gotta start with prayer, and um you know, I think uh I think for us to pray in in faith is it's easier said than done when it comes to family and friends and loved ones we've been praying for for a long time. You know, I I've I've in my work and stuff I've met with people who've have become very jaded over time. With you know, I remember meeting one particular lady who who was talking to me about a non-Christian relative and and she said, Don't tell me to pray. Don't tell me to pray. You know, she just becomes so jaded over time. Yeah, um, you know, and that's that's heartbreaking to see, but you know, I think we we've got to just have the have the stones to say, Well, look, I'm gonna tell you something you don't want to hear. We start with prayer. Yeah, um, and you know, and for me, I think it's it's not just uh, you know, a quick little prayer before someone rings the doorbell. We we've got to devote proper time to this. We've got to ask family, friends, loved ones, small groups, church friends, be praying alongside with us. Um, you know, let's let's petition heaven together and let's believe in faith that God's gonna
SPEAKER_00And I I guess you know, we do hear stories, don't we, of people who've prayed for you know twenty years and then a family member has come to faith, you know, and so you know I you can see how it'd be easy to be discouraged. You can imagine yourself nineteen years in going, Well, I've prayed for nineteen years and nothing's happened, and then who knows year twenty. So um there is that kind of you know persistence in prayer. Um but also I think you know that just praying shows that we think it's important as well, you know, that if we're willing to give time to praying about it, there's a we believe there's a value in what we're actually praying for.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, yeah, and that God can, you know, absolutely, and that God can. Yeah, you know, I I can't remember where it is in the scriptures, but uh New Testament somewhere.
SPEAKER_00I do like the Hebrews writer says, you know, as it's written somewhere, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um but but you know, um this guy comes to Jesus and says, you know, if you can, if you can heal me. And Jesus is like, I can. So uh yeah, you know, I I I think over time we we we can become jaded, but it but it's just that that first point of of kind of refreshing refreshing the idea and saying no matter how many times we petitioned heaven before, we we can't stop that if we want this thing to come together in the right way.
SPEAKER_00So first first thing is let's be praying for people, and then second one we've got here is you've come up with the inviting people.
SPEAKER_01Inviting people, yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel bad about stealing uh stealing Glenn's thing, seeing he's actually watching. I feel it's like kicking a sick man while he's down. But uh, you know, one of the things Glenn always says is like put yourself into the invitation. Um and I I love that, I think that's that's so helpful.
SPEAKER_00Um just unpack that a little bit for those.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so so one of the things Glenn says a lot is is actually it's it's just about kind of putting your heart on the line a little bit, going to people and saying, Look, I care about you. Uh this faith thing, this this Jesus thing is important to me, and it'd mean the world to me if you'd if you'd come along to this carol service, if you come along to a Christianity explored or alpha course or whatever it is the church is running. Um but just really put yourself into that invitation so it's not a um you know it's not a separate thing where I give you a piece of paper and I I never say a word, it's it's actually this means the world to me, so do you. Would you come? Um so you know, I I think that's I think that's really powerful.
SPEAKER_00And you know, that it and it's definitely the case, isn't it, that if you invite somebody, and if even if they don't come to something, that is a win. We should see that as a win that we have made the the move to invite. And I mean the person I'm always struck by um in scripture is Isaiah, that you know, when he you know the Lord says, Who shall I send? and he says, Send me. Um and he's basically told he's gonna go and speak, and no one's ever gonna listen, and if anything, they're gonna get worse. Um, you know, so you could look at that and say, Well, he's the worst evangelist in history, you know. But actually, I think he's a successful evangelist because he's faithful in what he's called to do. He's called to go and be a witness, and you know, he goes and witnesses, and how people respond to that is not a a reflection on you know what you do. So I think the very fact we invite is a is a positive.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, was it John Stock quote where he said uh you know um evangelism is preaching the gospel regardless of the results or something like that? Right, so yeah, but yeah, just really emphasizing that point, it's it's about proclaiming Christ and Christ crucified and listen, what happens with that that's between between the hearer and God, and yeah. But actually having the faithfulness to to get out there and speak, get out there and invite, get out there and say, Hey, this is this is important to me, and so are you. Um that's a huge win.
SPEAKER_00And I think we'd be sometimes surprised that people who are not remotely kind of religious and invert commas, whatever that means, um at Christmas time, people are kind of up for coming to things on that. I mean, obviously that people out there are gonna say, Well, I know people who aren't at all, and there are those people, but there are plenty of people who are you know not really interested in stuff like this at all. But Christmas time, then yeah, I'll come along for carol service and stuff, and who knows where that's gonna go.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. I mean it's the it's the time of year to try it, isn't it? It's the the easiest invite of the year, and that's not to say people are definitely say yes, but it's uh it it's the one where you'll definitely be forgiven for for trying it out. Um, but yeah, you know, going back to the the putting yourself in in the invitation. I I always remember a friend talking to me when I was a non-Christian at 21, and uh, you know, I I I think I snapped back it in one time he tried to share with me, and I kind of said, Look, you know, this whole religion thing's not for me. And uh I said, you know, I'd I'd just love it if you'd let me do what I'm gonna do, and I'll let you do what you're gonna do, and we'll just leave it at that, and we'll have the friendship without the without the evangelism. And uh and he said to me, you know, if heaven's real, I want you to be there. And I was like, Oh, damn. So you know, it's not a kind of gold star for his faith, it's not about him trying to meet his religious duties by by sharing with me. Actually, there's a genuine care there, yeah. Like it really, you know, it it is something sincere and authentic, and you know, that really caught my attention. Uh I'll I'll remember that for a long time, I think.
SPEAKER_00Maybe I wonder whether that doesn't come naturally to us as British people. No. Sharing any form of affection.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, definitely. No, no. We don't like to be kind to each other, I guess. Not in that way, not in that kind of deep and meaningful, sincere way.
SPEAKER_00Um, so we can pray for people and be inviting people uh along. Uh and what about what about this third one here? Silence doesn't preclude you from saying the wrong thing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. So uh I I guess um when I wrote this one down, I was kind of thinking in terms of uh, you know, we always use language like you know, everything speaks, you know, um you know, even your body language says a thousand words, and and uh you know, for me I I meet a lot of Christians who would say, Oh, you know, I'm not good at explaining my face, so actually I just leave that to other people. Um and I would argue that actually that that silence it doesn't prevent you from saying the wrong thing. Um it it guarantees that you you are saying the wrong thing. Um because actually, you know, for uh for people who are looking at your life and saying this person's a Christian, um if they're asking you questions, if they're kind of critiquing your faith, if they're challenging it, um and and we're just staying silent, uh actually that that speaks. That speaks to people, you know. That maybe that says my faith's not important enough that I want to share it with you. Maybe that says I'm not convinced of what I believe, maybe that says I I don't care about you enough to to really take the time to to uh delve into this with you. Um so I you know our silence doesn't prevent us from saying the wrong thing. I I think actually it guarantees that on some level we will be. Um and that's not to leave Christians feeling condemned and and leave them feeling like oh you know, I've I had opportunities to speak where I didn't. Um but it but it is to say, you know, it's not how you it's not how you start, it's how you finish. So next time we find ourselves in those situations, um something's better than nothing.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, and and trusting that actually whatever we say, God is going to take it and use it, you know, and it's not about having the perfect pre-packaged answer or gospel outline to give.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, um yeah, well, you look at someone like Jonah and he's he's gone to Nineveh and preached a pretty pithy little message, and you know, God's used it in a big way. So, you know, it this is wonderful thing about evangelism, it's it's not about us. Yeah, I think if if it was about us, then uh I'd have a pretty hard time getting motivated for it. But you know, God God knows what he's doing. Um and he can he can take even the um you know the very small things that that we're able to offer and and turn them into much bigger things that we never thought possible. So yeah, I I think just just get out there and and say something.
SPEAKER_00Okay, great. And what about so next thing up is uh making people wish it was true. How how how does that work in a setting?
SPEAKER_01So the more we go through these, the more I realised I've just ripped off Glenn. Yes, yes. He might we might as well have just waked up.
SPEAKER_00When I start doing my research, I realised he just ripped off everyone, but he doesn't he doesn't admit it, that's all it is.
SPEAKER_01Sort of like a chain of plagiarism. That's good. But um plagiarism, we're allowed. We're allowed, it's the good plagiarism. But yeah, like uh you know, uh making people wish it was true is is very much one of uh one of Glenn's and uh you know he's he said numerous times um actually if if we're able to explain a gospel, explain the gospel rather in in a way where people are uh listening to this and thinking, I'm not sure what I think about this faith thing, I'm not sure what I think about this Jesus character. But man, if this was true, wouldn't that be great?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I mean one of one of the angles used studying the 321 book, uh another book available from Glenn Scrivener, um, is the idea of Christianity being. We don't get paid for this, people. We don't get any royalties. Click here. Um is the idea of Christianity being like a house and just saying to people, look, you may have lots of questions and all kinds of objections, but just for a moment put those aside and come into the house and let me show you round and just you know, just for imagine for a moment that this is true and let me explain to you what that looks like. Um you know, suspend your sort of disbelief or whatever it is or your questions, um and let me just tell you the story so that it makes sense to you. And I think that's true, you know, and actually we were talking earlier about the different types of preaching you might do, and you know, if you're preaching a kind of light in the darkness type thing, we're saying, look, yes, the the reality is there is darkness, but there is something better. Um whereas I think if you're an atheist, you don't really have an answer to the darkness, particularly. Um so what it doesn't have to just be that, but whatever situation, just saying, look, here's here's a better story. Um and and it's not about convincing someone to go, oh okay, that's definitely the right thing, but it's just putting it out there for them to then you know do with where it goes.
SPEAKER_01And it you know, part of the reason we've put um kind of making people wish it were true on the list is is because actually if you can get um by the grace of God people to that point, then they're gonna look, aren't they? They're gonna look and say, well, okay, let's let's see. And you know, I think again that's part of my own story is uh is kind of hearing of uh of this Jesus who's just mercy and compassion with skin on and uh and just going around and uh and lifting people out of the the various strifes that that they were in, challenging religious hypocrisy, things that I would I would have never associated with Jesus before I took a look for myself. Um you know, i i going and actually looking for myself it was something I probably wouldn't have done if I hadn't had this general overview of the gospel and someone saying, Well, well, it wouldn't it be good? Wouldn't it be good if this was real? And you sort of think, Well, yeah, it would. But the most important question is, is it true? Um, but it just helps along that journey of thinking, all right, let me let me get stuck into the Bible, let me try and unpack this thing and and work out is there any merit to it? Is there any reason to believe it? And I think once people start taking those steps, um, you know, they find pretty quickly actually this is this is a pretty reliable document, and uh there are good reasons to believe.
SPEAKER_00Uh let's let's keep going because I'm just aware that time is uh time is moving uh moving quickly. Um another thing we do is challenge misconceptions, and um I get I guess you know that's in some sense self-explanatory that you know people who come to church at Christmas or or come through the door, or even though they don't come through the door, people do have ideas in their head about what they think God is like or church is like or what Christianity is about. Um and actually part of our witness can be as simple as just uh dispelling, you know, just going, Oh hang on, what you've said there, and that's not quite true. Um you know the the God, you know, so actually the the God people speak of, uh often people will speak about God in quite generic terms. You might kind of say, Well, I'm not sure the God you're speaking about and the God I'm speaking about are the same one here, you know. So um there's a lot of ways we can kind of do that, I guess, as as conversations arise. Um and then we've got here remembering how popular Jesus is, and what's what's that all about?
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, so for me, I I think in church circles, especially you hear uh a lot of people sort of go, well, you know, uh Christianity, we know from the Bible that it's gonna be very unpopular in the end times, and you know, we're gonna take criticism and we're gonna suffer persecution. And yeah, those things are true, but I I think sometimes we kind of pair that idea with Jesus being really unpopular. Uh and actually when we look at the scriptures, that's just not true. Actually, Jesus was wildly popular, um, and you know, crowds after crowds after crowds we see in the New Testament flock in to hear his teachings. So I I think part of this for us is just remembering um how uh how popular, how desirable um Jesus is to people, and and actually just trusting that when we're dropping gospel seeds into people's ears, um, you know, this this man who is uh hugely attractive to people is is being presented, and and when that happens, um you know good things happen.
SPEAKER_00And I and it's definitely the case, you know, there's so many different kind of vox pops out there where people are asked, you know, what do you think about church? And they're kind of quite negative about church or Christianity, and say, but what do you think about Jesus? And universally it's always very positive, you know, even if they've got a kind of Jesus is just a good moral teacher type view, yeah. But they all quite like Jesus. So I mean it's it's a good place to start talking about Jesus, so definitely a good way in. Um evangelism, so number seven, evangelism is pastoral care for non-Christians. So, what was the thinking behind that one?
SPEAKER_01The thinking behind that one is that we live in a culture where we listen to respond, uh, we don't listen to try and understand other people very well. Uh, even when we think we're doing that, I I'm not convinced that we necessarily do that well. I there's a lot of times I'll be out talking to people, and as I'm speaking, I'm looking at them and I'm thinking, you have no idea what I'm saying, you're just thinking about what you're gonna say in response. Um, and so for me, this this is about actually can we uh can we listen to people in such a way where we're trying to really understand what they're saying? Um, and when we do that, um I think it it it gives us greater perspective to to to find a way of presenting the gospel that really speaks to them.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um so I mean the cliche isn't I mean it's the cliche phrase. People say, Oh, you you know you've got two ears and one mouth, so you listen twice as much as you speak, and um you know, and we kind of laugh at that, but uh there's a lot to be said for listening to people because I think as well as Christians, we we have these preconceptions or misconceptions as well about the kind of objections or questions and views people have about Christianity, and actually it's helpful for us to take the time in conversation with people to just say, Oh, you know, what do you think about this, or to really just listen because we often find that they're not really in the place we think you know, non-Christians are net are not really in the place we think they often are. Um and so you know, having that opportunity to that then shapes, like you say, our ability to speak into into that. So I mean that and that applies, I guess, all year round, but um particularly in this season, yeah.
SPEAKER_01There's lots of opportunities and stuff comes up. Uh I think just quickly one of the things that we were we were touching on earlier was saying that in our culture, um we don't use language in a particularly intelligent way. And and so actually when when I say a particular word and you say a particular word, we're using the same word, but we might actually be talking about quite different things. Sure. Um and so some of it in terms of listening is listening to what someone's saying and then just repeating it back. So what you mean is this, this, and this. So you can just really get on the same page with people. I think once you you take the time to do that, um, you make sure that you're yeah, you know, you're kind of uh moving moving the conversation forwards in a positive way where you're you're presenting Jesus carefully, carefully over quickly.
SPEAKER_00And then we're thinking about um reshaping bad questions is something we can do in as we witness in day-to-day life. And what do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_01Uh it kind of feeds into the kind of making sure we're on the same page in in terms of the language we use. Um, but you know, I I think um a lot of questions that I I've tended to be asked in the past have been kind of false dilemmas. So they'll present the question as here are the two possible answers, and you'll go, well, actually, no, that the question's just a bad question. And even if I answer a bad question well, it's probably still an unhelpful answer because we need to we need to try and get on the same page with the questions people are asking. Um so I wrote a couple down earlier, but you know, um, when you guys were away doing sort of mission weeks in the CU over the last uh month or so, you know, you got uh you got asked a couple of questions, you know, is is faith a leap into the darkness? Uh, you know, and you guys were able to kind of reshape the question a little bit and go, well, no, actually, we're already in darkness. Yeah, faith is more of a step into the light. Um, and you know, it's just about kind of reshaping that question, putting a slightly different angle on it just to open a conversation.
SPEAKER_00It's like people have assumptions underlying it. So I mean the the other ones that came up off the back of that, uh, or I can think of there was the kind of rational person believe the Bible, yeah, and then won't God rob me of my freedom? And I think in both of those, Glenn and I were able to say, Well, what makes you think you're rational for a start? Um so rather than getting into a kind of here's the evidence for the New Testament documents type discussion, which becomes very apologetic and not very Christ focused. Yeah, uh, we could say, you know, we're not rational because we're fallen, and you're suddenly getting into gospel territory, and then the freedom one, you know, won't God rob me of my freedom? Well, again, it was why do you assume that you're free? And and then you can start to talk about knock the microphone over. Um you can start to talk about um the things that you know, the things that we all know are true about ourselves that we are often enslaved by different things, and already then you're pushing again into gospel territory, and that's very exciting.
SPEAKER_01So and I think the classic one for me is the question of suffering, you know, why doesn't God do something about suffering? You know, if you try and answer that question without reshaping it, you're gonna get yourself into a world of trouble. Yeah, but it's actually about going, well, God did do something about suffering. Yeah, it's kind of a big deal in terms of human history. Um, you know, so once we we get on the same page and we go, well, actually, I don't believe in a God who's powerless to do anything about suffering. I believe in the God who who gave it all to end suffering for good, um for once and for all, you know. So uh that's a very different kind of conversation. So yeah, reshaping the questions is yeah, super useful.
SPEAKER_00And yeah, super useful in this season. I mean, all year round, super useful, but you know, in this season the stuff comes up definitely. Um, and then number nine, little ideas, little things we can do. Yeah, the little touches, little touches day to day.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so just a just a few little ideas you could think about this Christmas that might be useful. Um, you know, one of the things that that we always do in our house when we have non-Christian family over for dinner is we'll say a little a little grace at the dinner table, and uh yeah, it's just an opportunity to um to have a little two-minute gospel presentation in a way. You know, within that we're saying, you know, God thank you for all that you provide for us, but it but it's also an opportunity to say, look, Jesus, this is who you are. Um uh and uh you know, this is why you're different from the rest of the world. This is the light and the hope we have because of you. And uh again, it's just dropping those little gospel seeds um in places. So so Grace at the dinner table, um, one of the things we did recently at a friend's house was uh we went round and and said something we were thankful for. And there are a few people within that who are able to share a little bit of testimony from the last year, what God's been doing in their life and what they're thankful for.
SPEAKER_00And so I guess you're seeing this in the context of with family at home, maybe if there's non-Christian family, it's the kind of thing you can do, and they're they're there and they're witnessing these things or hearing these things, even if they won't come to church or definitely, definitely, and that would be very much our situation.
SPEAKER_01You know, we'll have family around for Christmas this year who wouldn't be interested in coming to a service, but you know, so the question for us becomes well, how do we present present the gospel clearly and and present Jesus clearly in the home? Um so little things like that are helpful. Um also on that list we had you know uh a strong social media presence, which is obviously a big part of what Sweet Life's about. So a good excuse to come and check out some of our videos um for for this Christmas and and get those shared as well, that'd be great. Um, and and you know, I'm a big fan of of putting out gospel literature and and invitations within within kind of presence themselves. So I think that really um that really speaks to people, and you know, it's a nothing venture, nothing game kind of deal. You know, at the end of the day, if I give someone a book and they don't read it, that's a shame, but it it only cost me a quid. So sure it's okay.
SPEAKER_00So there's lots of little things we do, and then the last one then God is bigger than your mistakes.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, the most the most important one from my point of view, God is bigger than your mistakes. You know, if I if I thought as an evangelist that you know I things that I was saying in the course of the day was gonna be the determining factor in someone's eternity, then I'd have a very, very difficult time ever opening my mouth because that'd be the most frightening thing in the world. But but actually knowing God's bigger than my mistakes, I'm not so high, mighty, or important that anything I'm saying saying is gonna derail what he's doing. Um that's a huge comfort to me. You know, God is God is sovereign, he knows what he's doing. Um, and whether someone comes to him or not, that's that's between him and them. So, you know, we've we've got this opportunity to share, but there's there's freedom within that, you know, we're we're not uh we're not carrying a huge burden in terms of evangelism. Actually, there's there's freedom to get out and share, um, talk of talk of what God's done for you with great joy and uh without feeling that pressure. So yeah, God's God's bigger than our mistakes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and that should kind of bolster us, give us a courage, shouldn't it, to to speak up and like like we've kind of touched on in some of those other points, it might be a small thing that you say and it doesn't have to be a fully formed whatever. Um but actually, you know, it's unlike you know we're not gonna s screw up the whole thing if God's got it, you know, God has got it in hand. Um we can't derail that. So great. So there are hopefully from in what we've said, we've if you are the kind of person who's Running Christmas services or speaking at Christmas events or services. There's been some ideas in there for you if you are uh you know just kind of going about your your daily life. Um we hope that those things there, those 10 ideas will be helpful for you. Uh we did have a little uh uh uh it's not a question, just a statement uh in from Batman, Mr. Batman. Ah uh and who said Christmas is a pagan holiday, nothing to do with Yeshua. Um well you know what? I I think uh there is there's some truth in that, isn't there? That it's a a holiday that has been kind of uh what's the word? Apprehended is not the right word. Um we've taken it, we've taken it over. Um that's like apprehended, yeah. Yeah, we're gonna go for apprehended, whatever. We've taken it over. And you know, there's truth in that, but at the end of the day, um, you know, w we we we won't judge each other on those who look at certain days as important than others, you know, that's uh clear in the New Testament. But um uh at the end of the day, Christmas time, uh even if it even if we want to think of it as an entirely pagan uh event, um people are gonna come through the doors of churches. You know, I know for example at my church on Christmas Eve alone where we'll have three Christingal services, we'll see a thousand people through the door. You know, that's a so a thousand people who are gonna get an opportunity to hear about Jesus, so I'm willing to jump on the back of it, you know. And at the end of the day, you know, we've done videos through the year on different topics, you know, Valentine's you know, messages or whatever, or Halloween, and neither of those are particularly Christian events, yeah. Um, but we're willing to uh speak Jesus into them, um, even if they're not solely about Jesus at the beginning.
SPEAKER_01So, questions for kind of deal, isn't it? You know, you uh how we walk towards outsiders in wisdom, take every opportunity. Yeah, and yeah, Christmas, regardless of where it comes from, it's a great opportunity.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Well, guys, I think that's I hope that's been helpful for you. Uh, just a couple of things to flag up. Um, I don't think we've got time to watch the video, but it's worth uh seeing a video we put out last week uh called A Year in Search, which is a kind of sum-up of the year's uh news events. So Google normally do a video kind of each year about the most searched kind of terms, um, and this is kind of a bit of a riff on that, but uh it's not necessarily the most searched terms, but it's kind of the big things that have been in the news. Um, and it's just a kind of short, just over two-minute long video looking at a kind of as the news events going on in the world, uh, the kind of questions that raises about the world we're living in. And the thing that's noticeable about the news is that it raises all these questions, but there are no answers. Well, what is the answer? Well, we think we've got the answer. We've got a better story, you know, that we can talk to people about. So do go and check that one out. You can find it on our YouTube uh channel. And please do be praying for uh Glenn because not only do we want him to get back fit and well, uh, but I think it's this Friday he's gonna be talking to Matt Dillahunty, who is uh an American atheist. I believe he's American. Um I think he's gonna speak to him at the Premier uh studios, gonna be doing a kind of debate with him about morality, um, which may then go on to be part of a kind of podcast or video. Um, and obviously that's quite a high-profile guy, Matt Dillahunty. So we'd love to pray for Glenn uh speaking to him and um uh sowing some seeds, who knows, and that would be useful. Um but apart from that, keep um keep sharing videos. We've got our four Christmas videos out uh already. Hopefully uh you're using them in your Christmas things and sharing them on social media. Um do give us a like on Facebook or follow us on Instagram, um, subscribe on YouTube, all those places. And if you'd like to keep supporting our work, you can go to speaklife.org.uk forward slash give, and uh there are various ways to contribute towards what we're doing here. So thanks for watching, guys. Uh, we'll see you again next week. Uh thank you, Pete, for joining us. Me, us, us, I don't know, just rambling. Right. Great. Well, thanks guys. Uh until next time, keep speaking life.