The Heart Set Right, Part 1

Proverbs 23:15-26

In today’s episode, we’re diving into Proverbs 23:26 – “My son, my daughter, give me your heart.” Pastor Colin unpacks the significance of this verse, revealing how it’s not just for those who are new to faith, but for everyone who walks with Jesus, even when their hearts feel distant or cold.

Have you ever felt a creeping lethargy in your spiritual journey, questioning if you’re truly following Christ? This message is especially for you. Pastor Colin reassures us that God’s call to give Him our hearts is a call to renewal and revitalisation, grounded in the love and relationship we have as His children.

Explore with us what it means to truly give your heart to God – a journey of resisting the temptations of the world and overcoming the internal struggles within us. This is more than a call to believers; it’s a reminder that in our relationship with God, we’re never mere servants but cherished sons and daughters.

100:00:00,000 –> 00:00:10,160God is saying to each of us, his children, to every person who is in Jesus Christ today,200:00:10,160 –> 00:00:16,799the word of God from Proverbs 23 and verse 26 is simply this.300:00:16,799 –> 00:00:18,799My son.400:00:18,799 –> 00:00:25,400My daughter, give me your heart.500:00:25,400 –> 00:00:29,360Welcome to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick.600:00:29,360 –> 00:00:31,420I’m glad you could be with us today.700:00:31,420 –> 00:00:33,619Colin, as we hear that verse from800:00:33,619 –> 00:00:37,240Proverbs 23, my son, my daughter, give me your heart,900:00:37,240 –> 00:00:40,480we may be thinking about that as being a verse for unbelievers,1000:00:40,480 –> 00:00:44,259but you’re saying no, it’s for anyone who does know Jesus.1100:00:44,259 –> 00:00:46,139My son, give me your heart.1200:00:46,139 –> 00:00:49,459Yeah, this is clearly a word that is spoken within the family.1300:00:49,459 –> 00:00:53,099And here’s God speaking to his own children.1400:00:53,099 –> 00:00:55,299This touches a real issue.1500:00:55,740 –> 00:00:59,860I mean, how often as a pastor has had the privilege of sitting with someone who1600:00:59,860 –> 00:01:03,880is one of the Lord’s own people and then they’re struggling with the fact that their own1700:01:03,880 –> 00:01:05,400heart has grown cold.1800:01:05,400 –> 00:01:09,599I mean you may know this experience yourself, as you listen to the programme today you say,1900:01:09,599 –> 00:01:15,199you know, I’m a Christian, yet there seems to be a hardness, a distance, a coldness in my heart.2000:01:15,199 –> 00:01:18,279There’s a lethargy that has come upon me.2100:01:18,279 –> 00:01:21,260I sometimes even wondered if I really am a Christian at all.2200:01:21,260 –> 00:01:23,500Now that’s a real conversation.2300:01:23,500 –> 00:01:28,320And it’s addressed right here by the Lord saying, My son, my daughter.2400:01:28,320 –> 00:01:33,800Now you are my child, but here you are in a place where your own heart has grown cold2500:01:33,800 –> 00:01:37,680and I want you today to place that heart back into my hands.2600:01:37,680 –> 00:01:43,379Well, this is a word that speaks to the reality of the Christian life when we get into a dry2700:01:43,379 –> 00:01:46,699place and a place where it’s not easy for us.2800:01:46,699 –> 00:01:51,339So my prayer for the programme today is that God would use this to touch your heart.2900:01:51,580 –> 00:01:53,419So again we’re in Proverbs 23.3000:01:53,419 –> 00:01:57,059As we begin a message, the heart set right.3100:01:57,059 –> 00:01:58,720Here is Pastor Colin.3200:01:58,720 –> 00:02:03,239If you would open your Bible at Proverbs chapter 23 that’s just been read.3300:02:03,239 –> 00:02:07,080We are especially going to look at the first part of verse 26 today.3400:02:07,080 –> 00:02:10,960We really began looking at these verses last week.3500:02:10,960 –> 00:02:17,020And we saw that these are the words of a wise and of a loving father, speaking to his son.3600:02:17,259 –> 00:02:24,779Now, we ended last time with a prayer of Solomon’s father, King David.3700:02:24,779 –> 00:02:28,380From Psalm 51, in verse 10 where David prayed,3800:02:28,380 –> 00:02:35,380Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit in me.3900:02:35,399 –> 00:02:41,160Now, that word create is very important.4000:02:41,380 –> 00:02:45,940Because it means and this is what David was praying,4100:02:45,940 –> 00:02:52,940Bring into existence, O Lord, something that was not in me before,4200:02:53,279 –> 00:02:58,660Create in me a clean heart, O God.4300:02:58,660 –> 00:03:04,679Now, there’s more here than David asking for forgiveness.4400:03:04,679 –> 00:03:07,940Remember in Psalm 51, he has already done that.4500:03:07,940 –> 00:03:10,440He says in Psalm 51 in verse 7,4600:03:10,440 –> 00:03:13,360Purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean.4700:03:13,360 –> 00:03:18,119Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.4800:03:18,119 –> 00:03:23,960David had already asked for forgiveness and he had received it.4900:03:23,960 –> 00:03:27,160But his prayer doesn’t end with the request for forgiveness.5000:03:27,160 –> 00:03:28,759His prayer moves on.5100:03:28,759 –> 00:03:32,679It’s as if he is saying after verse 7 of Psalm 51.5200:03:32,679 –> 00:03:36,139Lord, thank you for forgiveness,5300:03:36,139 –> 00:03:38,660Thank you for washing me,5400:03:38,759 –> 00:03:41,259Thank you for cleansing,5500:03:41,259 –> 00:03:44,679But now I need to ask you for something else.5600:03:44,679 –> 00:03:52,479See, I did what I did because my sinful heart was drawn to do it.5700:03:52,479 –> 00:03:58,380And if you forgive my sin, but leave my heart as it was before, unchanged,5800:03:58,380 –> 00:04:03,380it won’t be long before the same sinful heart takes me to do exactly the same thing5900:04:03,380 –> 00:04:04,380again.6000:04:04,380 –> 00:04:07,679And then I’ll just be locked in a cycle of repeating the same thing over and over6100:04:07,699 –> 00:04:08,820and over again.6200:04:08,820 –> 00:04:10,059That’s not what I want to be.6300:04:10,059 –> 00:04:14,740So, Lord, create within me something that has not been there before.6400:04:14,740 –> 00:04:17,579Create in me a clean heart, oh God.6500:04:17,579 –> 00:04:19,959I want you not only to forgive the sin.6600:04:19,959 –> 00:04:23,880I want you to change the impulse that actually made me do it.6700:04:23,880 –> 00:04:27,500That’s what he’s praying here.6800:04:27,500 –> 00:04:31,200Lord I need more than forgiveness.6900:04:31,600 –> 00:04:42,600Create in me a heart that loves you and loves you more than the sin I fell into.7000:04:42,600 –> 00:04:54,160Now, that’s what I want to take up the thread of this two part message today.7100:04:54,160 –> 00:04:57,600So where do you go from there?7200:04:57,660 –> 00:05:07,239So here you are today, you are a forgiven sinner, and you do have a new heart.7300:05:07,239 –> 00:05:15,540The truth about you is that you love the Lord and you trust the Lord and you want to live7400:05:15,540 –> 00:05:18,320in a way that honors the Lord.7500:05:18,320 –> 00:05:21,119Where do you go from here?7600:05:21,119 –> 00:05:27,239See, last week the message was very much, as we focused on the heart gone wrong, last7700:05:27,239 –> 00:05:33,079week the message was primarily to those who may be tempted to give up a faith that they7800:05:33,079 –> 00:05:34,100once professed.7900:05:34,100 –> 00:05:39,000That’s what Rehoboam did and that’s why Solomon was speaking to his son with such8000:05:39,000 –> 00:05:42,399intensity in these verses.8100:05:42,399 –> 00:05:50,239But today I want to speak to all of us who truly would say, as a forgiven person who8200:05:50,239 –> 00:05:55,519has a new heart who truly loves the Lord and wants to honor Him in your life, where do8300:05:55,519 –> 00:05:56,820we go from here?8400:05:57,000 –> 00:06:01,899And what is it that God says to us today?8500:06:01,899 –> 00:06:06,820And the answer to that question is in the first six words of verse 26 of Proverbs in8600:06:06,820 –> 00:06:15,200chapter 23, my son, give me your heart.8700:06:16,040 –> 00:06:27,799Or if we phrase it another way, my daughter, give me your heart.8800:06:27,799 –> 00:06:32,959Last week, we heard these words primarily as the words of a wise and loving father to8900:06:32,959 –> 00:06:38,000his son, Solomon speaking to Rehoboam and a father today speaking to a son today about9000:06:38,000 –> 00:06:41,440the path of wisdom and how not to go wrong.9100:06:42,339 –> 00:06:48,299Today, I want us to hear these words as the very words of God himself to us, which of9200:06:48,299 –> 00:06:51,019course, they are, they’re the words of Scripture.9300:06:51,019 –> 00:06:57,220God is saying to each of us, his children, to every person who is in Jesus Christ today,9400:06:57,220 –> 00:07:08,420the word of God from Proverbs 23 and verse 26 is simply this, my son, my daughter.9500:07:08,540 –> 00:07:12,279Give me your heart.9600:07:12,279 –> 00:07:17,679You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called The Heart9700:07:17,679 –> 00:07:19,440Set Right.9800:07:19,440 –> 00:07:24,440That phrase, my son, my daughter, give me your heart…our first thought might be that9900:07:24,440 –> 00:07:29,399it’s a question for the unbeliever, someone who doesn’t know Christ, but as Pastor Colin10000:07:29,399 –> 00:07:35,160has been telling us today, it’s a question for each one of us as we follow Jesus.10100:07:35,760 –> 00:07:39,160We’ll be back very shortly with the second part of the message but if you ever miss one10200:07:39,160 –> 00:07:43,600of Pastor Colin’s messages or you have to leave early or you joined late, you can always10300:07:43,600 –> 00:07:50,799catch up or go back and listen again by coming to our website OpenTheBible.org.uk, or find10400:07:50,799 –> 00:07:56,720us as a podcast, all the main podcast sites carry it, it’s called Open the Bible UK, or10500:07:56,720 –> 00:07:58,959follow the link from our website.10600:07:58,959 –> 00:08:02,760Back to the message again, here again is Pastor Colin.10700:08:02,760 –> 00:08:13,279My son, my daughter, give me your heart.10800:08:13,279 –> 00:08:19,380I want in reflecting on these remarkable words to make very simply four observations today.10900:08:19,380 –> 00:08:23,859The first is, please note an established relationship.11000:08:23,859 –> 00:08:29,559My son, give me your heart.11100:08:29,559 –> 00:08:37,900In other words, the person who will give his or her heart to the Lord is not a stranger,11200:08:37,900 –> 00:08:43,799certainly not an enemy and not a slave.11300:08:43,799 –> 00:08:52,479The one who gives his or her heart to the Lord is a son, a daughter.11400:08:52,479 –> 00:08:59,679In other words, the giving of the heart flows from the knowledge of an established relationship,11500:08:59,679 –> 00:09:04,419my son, God says, give me your heart.11600:09:04,419 –> 00:09:06,539Now notice the way around that it is.11700:09:06,539 –> 00:09:13,640The point here is not that if you give God your heart, you will become His child.11800:09:13,640 –> 00:09:20,140The point is that if you are His child, you will give Him your heart.11900:09:20,219 –> 00:09:24,500My son, give me your heart.12000:09:24,619 –> 00:09:31,440Now, as most of you will know very well, our Lord told a marvelous story about a prodigal12100:09:31,440 –> 00:09:38,719son who wasted his life in wild and reckless living, but then came to his senses and returned12200:09:38,719 –> 00:09:39,900to his father.12300:09:39,900 –> 00:09:46,599And before he came back, he decided in his mind what he was going to say when he got12400:09:46,599 –> 00:09:47,599home.12500:09:47,659 –> 00:09:55,400When I get back, I’m going to say, Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.12600:09:55,400 –> 00:10:00,200So treat me as one of your hired servants.12700:10:00,200 –> 00:10:07,659Now, in the event, when the son got back, he actually only got through halfway through12800:10:07,659 –> 00:10:10,539the speech that he had planned.12900:10:11,140 –> 00:10:17,580Father, he said, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.13000:10:17,580 –> 00:10:19,739But at that point, the Father interrupted him.13100:10:19,739 –> 00:10:24,340He broke into the son’s prepared speech and said to the servants, now bring the fatted13200:10:24,340 –> 00:10:30,659calf and let us eat and celebrate for this my son was dead and is alive again.13300:10:30,659 –> 00:10:32,820He was lost and is found.13400:10:32,820 –> 00:10:37,320It’s as if the Father’s saying, what do you mean, you’re not worthy to be my son?13500:10:37,359 –> 00:10:46,000You are my son and you’re back and let’s celebrate.13600:10:46,000 –> 00:10:52,559But then you remember there was another son and he was the very opposite of reckless.13700:10:52,559 –> 00:10:56,479Oh, he was as dutiful as they come.13800:10:56,479 –> 00:11:02,880Everyday he went out into the fields and worked for the Father and did everything that the13900:11:02,880 –> 00:11:06,400Father told him to do.14000:11:06,479 –> 00:11:11,200And when he saw that his no-good brother had returned and there was such a lavish welcome14100:11:11,200 –> 00:11:14,440being laid on for him, you remember that he was not happy.14200:11:14,440 –> 00:11:17,719It all seemed very, very unfair to him.14300:11:17,719 –> 00:11:28,000And so he said to the Father, many years I have served you, and I have never disobeyed14400:11:28,000 –> 00:11:31,020your command.14500:11:31,020 –> 00:11:41,200And the Father said to him, first word, Son, you are always with me and all that is mine14600:11:41,200 –> 00:11:42,200is yours.14700:11:42,200 –> 00:11:43,200Now think about this.14800:11:43,200 –> 00:11:54,659Here are two sons and both of them think of themselves as if they were only servants.14900:11:54,659 –> 00:12:03,159And if you think of yourself only as a servant of God, one of two things will happen.15000:12:03,159 –> 00:12:12,280Either, on the one hand, you will spend your whole life thinking I owe Him.15100:12:12,280 –> 00:12:19,760I messed up and I have to now work for the rest of my life to make up for my mess up.15200:12:19,799 –> 00:12:26,559So I blew the inheritance and so the rest of my life I’m just trying to make up to God15300:12:26,559 –> 00:12:28,799what I blew and what I did wrong.15400:12:28,799 –> 00:12:32,739And that’s why I’ve just gotta work my way through life and try and make up for all that15500:12:32,739 –> 00:12:35,380I’ve done in the past.15600:12:35,380 –> 00:12:41,239Or you will have the opposite problem, not of spending your whole life thinking that15700:12:41,239 –> 00:12:45,559you owe God, but that you spend your whole life like the elder brother thinking that15800:12:45,559 –> 00:12:48,239God owes you.15900:12:48,239 –> 00:12:56,799Huh, I’ve lived a good moral life, I’ve been a loyal husband or wife, I studied hard, I’ve16000:12:56,799 –> 00:13:05,479told the truth, I pursued a moral path and God owes me better than he’s given to me.16100:13:05,479 –> 00:13:10,520Think of yourself as only a servant, you will live your life in one of two places, either16200:13:10,520 –> 00:13:16,919I owe God, or God owes me and in neither case,16300:13:17,400 –> 00:13:22,080does the father have the son’s heart?16400:13:22,080 –> 00:13:27,619But friends, if you are in Jesus Christ, please try to take this in today, you are not a slave,16500:13:27,640 –> 00:13:31,159you are a son.16600:13:31,159 –> 00:13:40,460You are no longer a slave, but a son, Galatians 4 and verse 7 and if a son, then an heir.16700:13:40,460 –> 00:13:46,900Romans 8 and verse 15, you did not receive the spirit of slavery, but you have received16800:13:46,900 –> 00:13:53,780the spirit of adoption, the sons by which we cry out, Abba, Father.16900:13:53,780 –> 00:14:00,080And you know what, it is the knowledge of the relationship, a son, a daughter of God17000:14:00,080 –> 00:14:07,039that leads to the giving of the heart, otherwise you will spend your whole life either feeling17100:14:07,039 –> 00:14:10,460that you owe God or God owes you.17200:14:10,559 –> 00:14:17,820Father God, I wonder how I managed to exist without the knowledge of your parenthood and17300:14:17,820 –> 00:14:20,659your loving care.17400:14:20,659 –> 00:14:23,580But now, I am your child.17500:14:23,580 –> 00:14:31,299I am adopted in your family, and I can never be alone, For Father God, you are there beside17600:14:31,299 –> 00:14:32,299me.17700:14:32,299 –> 00:14:33,299You see the force of this?17800:14:33,299 –> 00:14:36,260My son!17900:14:36,260 –> 00:14:37,260Give me your heart.18000:14:37,260 –> 00:14:43,500The appeal of God to you is on the basis of a relationship established in Jesus Christ.18100:14:43,500 –> 00:14:47,219You are not a stranger.18200:14:47,219 –> 00:14:50,179You are not his enemy.18300:14:50,179 –> 00:14:53,000You are not his slave.18400:14:53,000 –> 00:14:56,340My son!18500:14:56,340 –> 00:14:58,539My daughter.18600:14:58,539 –> 00:15:04,539Give me your heart.18700:15:04,539 –> 00:15:06,820Second observation.18800:15:06,859 –> 00:15:09,460An essential priority.18900:15:09,460 –> 00:15:13,320Thought about sonship, lets think now together about the heart.19000:15:13,320 –> 00:15:18,539Give me your heart.19100:15:18,539 –> 00:15:22,140Now we looked together last week at why the heart is so important.19200:15:22,140 –> 00:15:25,679Let me give you a picture and for the boys and girls if you want to draw something, here’s19300:15:25,679 –> 00:15:27,099a picture.19400:15:27,099 –> 00:15:30,099Here’s a picture of the Christian’s heart.19500:15:30,099 –> 00:15:31,659The Christian’s heart.19600:15:31,659 –> 00:15:36,419A Christian’s heart is like a walled city.19700:15:36,479 –> 00:15:40,320So a city with a wall round the outside.19800:15:40,320 –> 00:15:46,280And on the outside of the wall there are many many enemies that want to get in.19900:15:46,280 –> 00:15:51,460That’s one part of the problem, a walled city with enemies on the outside.20000:15:51,460 –> 00:15:54,599But here’s the other part of the problem of the Christian hearts.20100:15:54,599 –> 00:15:59,880There are also traitors on the inside of the city.20200:15:59,880 –> 00:16:01,640Traitors on the inside of the city as well.20300:16:01,640 –> 00:16:03,559Now, this is our experience isn’t it?20400:16:03,559 –> 00:16:09,859We live in this world in which the temptations of the world and flesh and the devil outside20500:16:09,859 –> 00:16:17,520of us as it were are always being thrown at us and we need to keep the gates of the walled20600:16:17,520 –> 00:16:26,640city closed to anyone or anything that would lead us down a destructive path.20700:16:26,640 –> 00:16:31,719But when all is said and done about the many many evils that are on the outside of the20800:16:31,900 –> 00:16:37,799Christians heart the even greater problem is the traitors on the inside.20900:16:37,799 –> 00:16:42,320There is something, is there not, within all of us that is actually drawn to different21000:16:42,320 –> 00:16:47,239forms of sin, and so we need to guard not only against temptation on the outside but21100:16:47,239 –> 00:16:52,619against the traitors on the inside in our own hearts as well.21200:16:52,619 –> 00:16:56,880Now you will notice that this whole theme of contending with the many temptations and21300:16:57,320 –> 00:17:02,099lures that come to a Christian and come to the Christian heart are very prominent in21400:17:02,099 –> 00:17:08,119these verses that are before us in Proverbs for example if you look at verse 27 you will21500:17:08,119 –> 00:17:15,119see that it speaks very clearly there about the lure of sexual temptation and then verse21600:17:15,119 –> 00:17:23,95920 you have very clear reference to the temptations of drink and of gluttony and of laziness,21700:17:23,959 –> 00:17:29,119and I think with that in our culture today we could add the whole scene of the drug culture21800:17:29,119 –> 00:17:37,439that is such a temptation for so many today. Now here’s the question, how are you going21900:17:37,439 –> 00:17:45,459to guard your heart, especially a heart that has traitors within it, how are you going22000:17:45,479 –> 00:17:54,040to guard your heart against temptations like these? Now let me tell you another story from22100:17:54,040 –> 00:17:59,780the Bible, another familiar story that I think will make the point. The Bible tells us the22200:17:59,780 –> 00:18:06,640story of Joseph, a young man who you remember had been very badly treated and ended up living22300:18:06,640 –> 00:18:11,439in another country, away from his family and from his support network, a place where he22400:18:11,439 –> 00:18:20,500was away from everyone who knew him. He worked for a man by the name of Potiphar, and Potiphar’s22500:18:20,500 –> 00:18:31,280wife tempted him. Now Joseph said this, here’s how he responded. It’s Genesis 39 and verse22600:18:31,939 –> 00:18:45,5209 he says, how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? Notice what he says to22700:18:45,520 –> 00:18:56,260Potiphar’s wife, I couldn’t do this against God. That’s his defence. And these are the22800:18:56,319 –> 00:19:03,380words of a man who has given his heart to God. These are the words of a man who loves22900:19:03,380 –> 00:19:06,079the Lord with all his heart.23000:19:06,079 –> 00:19:10,359Now Joseph’s brothers would not have said a thing like that. They had been brought up23100:19:10,359 –> 00:19:13,339of course in the same home, they had been brought up with the same faith, but their23200:19:13,339 –> 00:19:22,339hearts were not given to the Lord. But Joseph had given his heart to the Lord. He truly23300:19:22,599 –> 00:19:29,599loved the Lord, and he lived in what the bible calls the fear of the Lord, which is a wonderful23400:19:30,219 –> 00:19:36,000expression of what it really means to love the Lord. That phrase as you may know occurs23500:19:36,000 –> 00:19:40,800often in the bible and especially in the book of Proverbs, and you’ll find it in our chapter23600:19:40,800 –> 00:19:47,479in verse 17, when it says let not your heart envy sinners but continue in the fear of the23700:19:47,920 –> 00:19:53,780Lord all the day long. Let me give you the simple definition of the fear of the Lord23800:19:53,780 –> 00:20:00,780that we’ve used before, I find it very helpful, the fear of the Lord is so to love God, that23900:20:01,060 –> 00:20:07,739His frown would be your greatest dread and His smile would be your greatest delight.24000:20:07,739 –> 00:20:14,739That’s what fearing God is, that’s what Joseph did. He so loved the Lord, that God’s frown24100:20:15,479 –> 00:20:22,479would be His greatest dread. How can I do this against God? And God’s smile would24200:20:26,420 –> 00:20:30,479be His greatest delight. That’s what it’s like when you have given24300:20:30,479 –> 00:20:37,479your heart to the Lord. You live in the fear of the Lord, His frown your greatest dread24400:20:38,400 –> 00:20:42,319His frown your greatest dread and His smile your greatest delight and you do it24500:20:42,319 –> 00:20:49,319all the day. Proverbs 23, verse 17. In other words what I’m saying to you is this, very24600:20:50,660 –> 00:20:55,319simply, that giving your heart to the Lord, what we’re being asked to do and called to24700:20:55,319 –> 00:21:01,099do today is your very best defence against sin.24800:21:01,099 –> 00:21:05,140You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible with a message called The24900:21:05,540 –> 00:21:09,599Heart Set Right, and a reminder there from Pastor Colin that giving your heart to the25000:21:09,599 –> 00:21:13,239lord is the very best defence against sin.25100:21:13,239 –> 00:21:17,800If you tuned in late or if you ever miss one of our messages you can catch up online at25200:21:17,800 –> 00:21:24,800our website openthebible.org.uk or you can find us as a podcast on all the main podcast25300:21:24,800 –> 00:21:31,400sites just search for Open the Bible UK or follow the link from our website.25400:21:31,560 –> 00:21:36,660Just on our website and available as a podcast you’ll find Open the Bible Daily, our series25500:21:36,660 –> 00:21:42,800of short 2-3 minute daily reflections based on Pastor Colin’s teaching and read in the25600:21:42,800 –> 00:21:47,920UK. There’s a new one everyday and many Christians start their day with Open the Bible Daily.25700:21:49,439 –> 00:21:54,380Many of us love reading but our busy lives don’t allow much time for that so we often25800:21:54,380 –> 00:22:00,800listen to audiobooks and podcasts maybe when we’re driving or out for a walk so we have25900:22:00,800 –> 00:22:05,319a new podcast starting this month and it’s called Hike Through the Bible.26000:22:05,319 –> 00:22:10,359Yeah and the Hike Through the Bible podcast will take you on a journey through the entire26100:22:10,359 –> 00:22:16,199Bible story giving you the option of listening or watching rather than reading. And in each26200:22:16,199 –> 00:22:20,800episode I’ll read a chapter of my book Hike Through the Bible and then I’ll discuss it26300:22:20,800 –> 00:22:22,119with some friends.26400:22:22,119 –> 00:22:28,219I hope you’ll join me in hiking through the Bible. You’ll grow in your faith. You’ll26500:22:28,439 –> 00:22:32,959deepen your grasp of Scripture and you’ll come to love Jesus more.26600:22:32,959 –> 00:22:38,000So that’s the Hike Through the Bible podcast and it’s not too late to get started. You’ll26700:22:38,000 –> 00:22:43,800find the Hike Through the Bible podcast wherever you get your podcasts and there’s a link26800:22:43,800 –> 00:22:50,800on our website at openthebible.org.uk. You’ll also find more information about the podcast.26900:22:52,040 –> 00:22:56,079Open the Bible is supported by our listeners, it’s you who keep us on the air and on the27000:22:56,439 –> 00:23:01,479Internet. But it’s not just Open the Bible programming you’re supporting. Here’s27100:23:01,479 –> 00:23:06,380Open the Bible’s Executive Director John Martin with a new Open the Bible initiative27200:23:06,380 –> 00:23:10,819taking the good news of Jesus Christ to prisoners in UK prisons.27300:23:10,819 –> 00:23:14,680Listeners might be interested to know where some of the donations to Open the Bible go.27400:23:14,680 –> 00:23:20,719Through a mutual friend I got to know Gaius Fillingham who is the CEO of Daylight Christian27500:23:51,420 –> 00:23:57,660of Heaven How I Got Here The Story of the Thief on the Cross. 150 DVDs were produced.27600:23:57,660 –> 00:24:02,239We did it as a prison edition whereby we had Open the Bible and Daylight’s logos on27700:24:02,239 –> 00:24:08,520there, and Colin recorded a bespoke little epilogue to address the prisoners, point them27800:24:08,520 –> 00:24:14,020to the prison chaplain, encouraged them to speak to their chaplains to get more literature.27900:24:14,020 –> 00:24:19,979We’ve heard from prison chaplains who said the video, the film, has been well received.28000:24:19,979 –> 00:24:25,339We printed a whole load of little booklets about how to get into heaven, how they can28100:24:25,359 –> 00:24:31,260respond themselves, and those again were distributed with the DVDs and there’s a whole load more28200:24:31,260 –> 00:24:36,959that can be requested for free. So, donations towards Open the Bible can be sent directly28300:24:36,959 –> 00:24:38,280in to that ministry.28400:24:38,280 –> 00:24:42,540If you’d like to support the work of Open the Bible generally, or our work in prison28500:24:42,540 –> 00:24:50,680ministry in association with daylight specifically, you can do that at our website openthebible.org.uk.28600:24:50,680 –> 00:24:54,099Use the donate button and enter your email address.28700:24:54,099 –> 00:24:59,500On the next page select between the general fund, our monthly free offer for new givers28800:24:59,500 –> 00:25:02,780or prison ministry in association with daylight.28900:25:02,780 –> 00:25:07,180Thanks so much in advance for your support of the work of Open the Bible.29000:25:07,199 –> 00:25:11,140For pastor Colin Smith and Open the Bible, I am David Picht and I hope you will join29100:25:11,140 –> 00:25:12,380us again next time.29200:25:23,140 –> 00:25:26,400How can you ever feel safe giving your heart to God?29300:25:26,400 –> 00:25:29,119Find out next time on Open The Bible.

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Colin Smith

Trustee / Founder and Teaching Pastor

Colin Smith is the Senior Pastor of The Orchard Evangelical Free Church in the northwest suburbs of Chicago. He has authored a number of books, including Heaven, How I Got Here and Heaven, So Near – So Far. Colin is the Founder and Teaching Pastor for Open the Bible. Follow him on X formerly Twitter.

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Where your heart is today is a good predictor of where you will be tomorrow. In Proverbs 23, you will hear the voice of a father who is seeking the good of his son, and the voice of God the Father speaking to you. In this two-part series, Pastor Colin opens up Proverbs 23 to

Colin Smith

New! Graphic Novel

A man of crime. A ruthless empire. A fellow prisoner. A promise of Paradise. 

Discover the story of the thief on the cross, and his life-changing encounter with Jesus, in this brand new full colour graphic novel version of Colin S Smith’s Heaven, How I Got Here: The Story of the Thief on the Cross.

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