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Somewhere in your journey, you’re going to meet these three thieves.
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Faint heart will threaten you.
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Mistrust will want to rob you and guilt will attempt to beat you up.
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And when you meet these thieves, you’re going to have to exercise faith.
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Welcome to open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith.
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I’m David Pick, and Colin, what are we looking at today Band of Thieves?
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Yes.
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You know, this is from John Bunyan’s wonderful book pilgrims Progress, in which he sketches
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these different characters.
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One of his characters is a person called Little Faith, and Little Faith gets beaten up and
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he gets beaten up by three ruffians, who are mistrust, guilt and faint heart.
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Now, you know, when you think about our own Christian experience, faint heartedness feeling
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like giving up and I know what it is to be beaten up by faint heart and what it is to
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be beaten up by guilt, what it is to be beaten up by mistrust.
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You know, I read the promises of God.
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And then I think now, can I really believe this?
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These are the experiences of our lives.
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And so what we’re going to look at today is what do you do, little Faith?
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When you get beaten up by these thieves and they try to rob you, and take away even what
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you have, there’s a response to that and we’re going to look at that in the scriptures together
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today.
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Well, let’s have a look at that.
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It’s in the book of Luke, and chapter eight, verses 22 to 25 today as we continue the message
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applied faith.
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Here’s Colin.
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Some of you will know the book Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan.
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Bunyan pictured the Christian life as a journey.
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His main character was called Christian and Christian left his hometown that was called
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Destruction in order to go on a journey to the Celestial City which was Bunyan’s way
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of referring to Heaven.
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So his book Pilgrim’s Progress is really a description of what happens in a life of faith
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pictured as a journey from the City of Destruction to the heavenly or celestial city and the
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main character Christian has many adventures on the way and meets with many fascinating
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characters.
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And one of Bunyan’s characters is called little Faith I’m sure he took that directly from
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the fact that, as we’ve seen, Jesus said, Oh, you of little faith.
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On no less than five occasions, Little Faith lived in a tower called sincere.
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And like Christian, he decided that he needed to leave this town called sincere, in order
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to begin a journey to the celestial city.
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At one point in the story, little Faith went down an alley that was called dead man’s lane.
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It had been given that Lane because of the many murders that had taken place there in
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the past.
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And while he was in dead man’s lane, little Faith was confronted by thieves.
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There were three of them and their names were faint heart, mistrust, and guilt.
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Well, faint heart was the first to speak in a very threatening way.
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He demanded that little Faith give the thieves his wallet.
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Little Faith was so terrified, he didn’t know what to do.
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He just stood there, absolutely frozen to the spot.
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And so mistrust stepped forward and seized little Faith’s wallet out of his pocket.
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At that moment, little Faith shouted for help.
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Thieves! Thieves!
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And at that, guilt stepped forward with a big stick in his hand, he hit little Faith
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over the head and then beat him down to the ground.
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And then the three thieves ran off, leaving little Faith bleeding in Dead Man’s Alley.
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Now Bunyan here is giving to us a profound insight into Christian experience.
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Somewhere in your journey you’re going to meet these three thieves.
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Faint heart will threaten you, mistrust will want to rob you, and guilt will attempt to beat you up.
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And when you meet these thieves you’re going to have to exercise Faith.
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First then, exercise Faith when faint heart tries to scare you.
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Now, you know what this is like in your own experience. You have perhaps an opportunity to serve.
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There’s something good that you would like to pursue, but faint heart holds you back.
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Fear grips you. You don’t want to fail, so you don’t step forward. You don’t take a risk.
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You want to guard yourself at all costs against any possibility of failure.
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Now, what are you to do when faint heart crosses your path and tries to scare you?
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The answer is you must exercise faith.
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And faith responds to faint heart by affirming the strength that is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.
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So, when you come to something that seems beyond you, exercise faith.
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Christ will bring you to places in your journey
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where you have no alternative but to depend upon him.
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And faith grows when you see that what he calls you to is indeed beyond you
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and you have to trust him to give you what you do not have.
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Tell faint heart that Christ is yours, and in him is all the strength that you need.
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Your Saviour is with you, and he who guards you will neither slumber nor sleep.
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His strength is made perfect in your weakness,
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and his grace is sufficient for you.
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Exercise faith when faint heart tries to scare you.
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Then secondly, exercise faith when mistrust attempts to rob you.
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In Bunyan’s story, remember, little faith was beaten up by guilt but it was mistrust
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who robbed him.
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And of the two it was mistrust who did the greater damage.
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See, little faith recovered from being beaten up, dusted himself off, recovered from his
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wounds, and then pressed on in his journey to the Celestial City.
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But since mistrust had taken his money, well little faith had a much more difficult journey.
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Now to be clear, little faith was and is without question a child of God.
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Even with little faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you belong to him and God indeed is your Father
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and by his grace you will make it home.
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Despite being beaten up in dead man’s lane, little faith at last arrived in the celestial city.
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But here’s the thing with little faith, his journey was not a happy one.
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Bunyan says he was forced to beg as he went and that he went with many a hungry belly.
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That is a great description of a believer who is robbed by mistrust.
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As a believer, you are rich in the Lord Jesus Christ,
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but mistrust can make you live as if you were poor.
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Mistrust took away little faith’s joy.
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It was mistrust that made little faith’s life and journey so difficult
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and often quite miserable.
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Now, what are you to do then when mistrust tries to rob you?
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Well, faith responds to mistrust by affirming the riches that are yours in Jesus Christ.
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You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ.
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Even if you only have a little faith, you are loved, you are called, you are forgiven,
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you are redeemed.
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The Holy Spirit of God lives in you, and you are destined for a life of eternal joy in
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the glory of the Lord’s immediate presence.
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So tell mistrust that Christ is yours!
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That all the riches that are yours in Him can never be taken away.
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Tell mistrust, my God will supply all that I need according to His riches in glory in
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Christ Jesus!
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You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message today called Applied
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Faith.
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It’s part of our series Growing in Faith, Hope and Love and if you tuned in late or
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if you’ve missed any of the series, you can always go back and listen again at our website
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that’s openthebible.org.uk or find us as a podcast and those are available on all the
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main podcast sites, search for Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates.
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Well, today we’re in Luke Chapter 8, Verses 22 to 25 as we continue the message.
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Here’s Colin.
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Exercise faith when faint heart tries to scare you.
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Exercise faith when mistrust attempts to rob you.
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And then thirdly exercise faith when guilt, wants to beat you up.
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Now Bunyan says repeatedly in his remarkable story that little faith was a good man,
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a good man.
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He came from a town called sincere and like the rich young ruler.
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He was the kind of person who had sought to live his life according to the commandments
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of God.
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But when he started out in his journey to the heavenly city, he was confronted by this
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thief called guilt.
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I don’t suppose that little faith had ever been confronted by guilt before, but when
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he started out on his journey guilt found him and you know that may be your story too.
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You’re a sincere person.
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You’ve lived a good life.
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No wild rebellion in your story.
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You’ve you were always a good student always got good grades.
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But now since you have begun a serious journey of faith and you’re seriously seeking to
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follow the Lord Jesus Christ suddenly, you find in a new way that surprises
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you that your own conscience is awakened.
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You see sins in your life the you never saw before and you’re beginning to discover
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your own shock and horror that you’re actually not the little angel that
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you once thought you were.
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Now, what do you do?
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When guilt?
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Is ready to beat you up?
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Will you exercise faith?
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Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?
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Faith in the promise of God that as far as the East is from the West so far has
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he removed our transgressions from us?
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You exercise faith in the promise of God when he says to you in scripture
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your sins and your iniquities.
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I will remember no more.
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Faith responds to guilt by affirming the Gray.
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That is yours in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Tell guilt
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that Christ is yours and that in him you are washed.
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You are cleansed.
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You are forgiven and you are reconciled to God forever.
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So here are three thieves.
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And you will encounter them in your journey through the Christian life.
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Faint heart will try and steal your confidence fill you with fear.
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Mistrust we’ll try and take away your joy.
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Guilt will attempt to rob you of peace.
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Resist these thieves by exercising faith.
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Tell faint heart that Christ is yours and in him is all the strength that you need.
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Tell mistrist that Christ is yours and that the riches that are yours in him can never be taken away.
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Tell guilt that Christ is yours and that in him you are forgiven.
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God does not give us faith as a kind of toy to play with.
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He gives us faith because we are going to need it.
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And because he wants us to use it.
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And faith involves an intentional engagement in which you trust the Lord Jesus Christ in regards to the realities of the experience and circumstance that you are actually facing now.
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Where is your faith?
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That’s the question Jesus asks us.
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Where do you most need to apply your faith today?
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In what do you need to trust him?
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Now I want to end today with three encouragements for believers with little faith.
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I want to encourage those who feel that you’re only at the beginning
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and that your faith is really quite small.
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First encouragement for you is that little faith is infinitely better than unbelief.
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Infinitely better.
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You know God invites us to believe.
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He says turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth,
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but he not only invites us to believe.
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He commands us to believe.
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Did you know that God commands us to believe?
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1 John chapter 3 verse 23,
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And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his son, Jesus Christ.
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His commandment.
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So unbelief, you see is not only a refusal of God’s invitation,
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it is a defiance of God’s command.
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John tells us that God did not send his son into the world in order to condemn the world,
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but in order to save the world through him.
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And then he adds these words,
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whoever does not believe is condemned already,
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because he has not believed in the name of the only son of God.
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Unbelief puts you on a collision course with God.
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So beware of a heart that becomes hardened in unbelief.
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If that is your position repent of it
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and ask that God would have mercy upon you.
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Take care brothers, says the writer to Hebrews.
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Lest there be in any of you an unbelieving heart
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leading you to fall away from the living God.
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An unbelieving heart is a terrible thing
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because it not only refuses God’s invitation
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it actually defies his command.
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And so I want to say that if you have just a little faith
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you are in an infinitely better position
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than someone who refuses to believe.
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Thank God for that little faith.
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That’s the first thing.
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The second encouragement is this,
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that not only is little faith infinitely better than unbelief
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but little faith can grow.
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And that of course is the whole point of this series.
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And you may ask the question today well you know,
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what hope does little faith have against these thieves?
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How can he stand up or she stand up
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when his or her faith is only small?
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What can little faith do?
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And the answer to that question is
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little faith can do more than he or she thinks.
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Exercise the faith that you have
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and God will give you more.
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But why should God ever give you more
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than you actually intend to use?
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This is how it works, God gives more faith
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to those who use the faith that they already have.
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And we have therefore seen seven strategies
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for growing in faith.
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You grow in faith as you seek God’s kingdom,
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as you get to know Jesus,
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as you worship, as you’re nourished by the word
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as you persevere and as you ask of Jesus
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and all of these are ways in which
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you actually exercise faith.
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Little faith is infinitely better than no faith
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but no believer should ever rest content
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with little faith.
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God calls us to grow in faith
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and as we pursue these strategies, by his grace,
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we will to be encouraged.
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And the last thing is this,
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that little faith is saving faith
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if it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
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So if through this series, you felt,
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yeah, my name really is little faith.
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The good news is if your name is little faith
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then your name is written in the book of life.
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Jesus saves all who believe in him
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even if their faith is little.
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You know, there’s been a long debate
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in the history of the church
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about faith and assurance.
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Is having faith the same as being sure
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that you will be in heaven?
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Is it possible to have faith without being sure?
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And I think that our Lord Jesus repeated reference
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to little faith should make us cautious
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about identifying faith with assurance.
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Some believers will be surprised
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to find themselves in heaven.
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I had so many unanswered questions.
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I had so many doubts and so many fears.
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My faith was never as strong as I would have liked it
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to be and yet, here I am.
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Little faith will arrive in heaven
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because we are not saved by the strength of our faith,
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but by the strength of our Savior.
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For those of us who feel our faith is small
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and not what we would want it to be,
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that is such good news, isn’t it?
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We’re not saved by the strength of our faith,
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but by the strength of our Savior.
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You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith
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and the message Applied Faith.
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It’s part of our series, Growing in Faith, Hope and Love
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and if you’ve tuned in late
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or you’ve missed any of the series,
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don’t forget you can always go back
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and listen again online at our website,
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openthebible.org.uk
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or find us as a podcast on your favourite podcast site,
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just search for Open The Bible UK
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or follow the link on our website.
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Also on our website and available as a podcast,
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you’ll find an Open the Bible Daily
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and that’s a series
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of short two to three minute reflections,
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a new one every day based on Pastor Colin’s teaching
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and read in the UK by Sue McLeish.
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Many Christians find it’s a great way to start the day.
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You can subscribe to the podcast
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or find the new Open the Bible Daily
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every day on the website.
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Again, our website, openthebible.org.uk.
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If you’re a regular listener to Open the Bible,
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you’ll know that we are supported financially
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by many of our listeners.
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If you thought about helping the ministry
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in that way, but you haven’t yet done it,
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why not start this month?
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If you can do that, we have a special offer for you.
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If you’re able to begin a new regular donation
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to the work of, Open the Bible
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in the amount of five pounds per month or more,
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we’d love to say thank you
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by sending you a copy of Jerry Bridge’s book,
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Respectable Sins.
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Colin, who is this book for?
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This is a really helpful and practical book
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for any Christian believer,
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no matter how long you have been following
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the Lord Jesus Christ.
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As Christians, we all recognize that we’re sinners.
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We all confess that in general.
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But what would you say if you were asked,
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what are three sins that you need to be
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fighting against more strongly in your life?
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As Christians, we’re committed to living good lives,
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we’re not going to be murdering,
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we’re committed to be loyal and faithful to our spouse.
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We’re not going to be robbing a bank.
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But the point of course is that
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there are more subtle sins alongside these obvious ones
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that may actually lurk in our hearts.
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Sins like pride, sins like discontent, judgmentalism.
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And what this book does so helpfully
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is it identifies the respectable sins.
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The ones that might just be accommodated in our lives
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and alerts us to how we need to engage
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in battle against them.
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Well, this book Respectable Sins is our gift to you
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if you’re able to start a new donation
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00:25:01,339 –> 00:25:02,819
to the work of Open the Bible
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00:25:02,819 –> 00:25:05,619
in the amount of five pounds per month or more.
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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith,
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I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll be able to join us again
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next time on Open the Bible.
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Take it to the Lord
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You’re in a dark or dry place,
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so you take it to the Lord in prayer,
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but God still seems far away.
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Find out why next time on Open the Bible.
