100:00:00,480 –> 00:00:03,040SAFETY200:00:03,600 –> 00:00:05,840Keep yourselves in God’s love?300:00:07,120 –> 00:00:13,120Does that mean that it is possible for a Christian to slip out of the love of God?400:00:14,800 –> 00:00:20,320And if it’s up to me to keep myself in God’s love, how am I to go about doing that?500:00:21,040 –> 00:00:25,040Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick.600:00:25,040 –> 00:00:28,480And Colin, some huge questions right there that you threw out for us.700:00:29,120 –> 00:00:34,639We’ll answer them in today’s message, as we look at what it means to remain in God’s love.800:00:34,639 –> 00:00:41,599And what a marvelous truth this is, the love of God. And the Bible speaks about God’s love900:00:41,599 –> 00:00:46,240in different ways. There are general ways in which the Bible speaks about God’s love,1000:00:46,240 –> 00:00:51,759God so loved the world. There are particular ways in which it speaks about God’s love for1100:00:51,759 –> 00:00:58,240His own children. He disciplines those who He loves. But whatever aspect of the love of God,1200:00:58,240 –> 00:01:01,840we’re talking about and we’re going to distinguish some different aspects of the love of God.1300:01:02,880 –> 00:01:09,680We are talking in all of them about the love of God, and God demonstrates His love for us in1400:01:09,680 –> 00:01:15,599this, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. We’re going to delve into a marvelous1500:01:15,599 –> 00:01:21,919sea of God’s truth. The depth of the love of God for us, it’s immeasurable to all eternity.1600:01:21,919 –> 00:01:26,160We’ll be trying to fathom the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God in Jesus1700:01:26,160 –> 00:01:32,639Christ. With that introduction, let’s not wait any longer. We’re in Jude, verse 21 today. As1800:01:32,639 –> 00:01:38,959we begin the message, remaining God’s love, here is Colin. Well I think that many of us have made1900:01:38,959 –> 00:01:45,680a commitment in these last days to get ourselves in spiritual shape. We all know the lethargy that2000:01:45,680 –> 00:01:52,000comes upon us when the body is out of condition, and we’ve been using that analogy really to say2100:01:52,000 –> 00:01:57,120that there is a similar kind of lethargy that can come over our inner life, our spiritual life,2200:01:57,120 –> 00:02:03,519can come over our soul when we get out of spiritual shape. So we’ve identified that it’s2300:02:03,519 –> 00:02:10,960time to get into God’s gymnasium. Jude the Apostle is our coach and our trainer, and we’ve been2400:02:10,960 –> 00:02:15,440seeing at the end of this letter of Jude, just before the book of Revelation, the end of the2500:02:15,440 –> 00:02:23,679New Testament, that he gives to us seven workouts for a healthy Christian life. Now we’ve been2600:02:23,679 –> 00:02:29,600learning the first two. Build yourselves up in your most holy faith and then last week pray in2700:02:29,600 –> 00:02:35,039the Holy Spirit. Today we come to the third of these seven workouts. You’ll find it in Jude and2800:02:35,039 –> 00:02:45,520verse 21 if you will open your Bibles there. Keep yourselves in God’s love. Keep yourselves2900:02:45,520 –> 00:02:53,279in God’s love. Now immediately when a Christian looks at that phrase in the Bible,3000:02:53,279 –> 00:02:59,600there will be some very obvious questions that come to our minds. Keep yourselves in God’s love.3100:03:00,080 –> 00:03:06,240Does that mean that it is possible for a Christian to slip out of the love of God?3200:03:08,320 –> 00:03:13,919And if it’s up to me to keep myself in God’s love, how am I to go about doing that?3300:03:16,080 –> 00:03:21,279Well we’re gonna face these questions head-on this morning. It’s important that we understand3400:03:21,279 –> 00:03:29,360that the Bible talks about God’s love in several distinct ways. If you can think about God speaking3500:03:29,360 –> 00:03:37,279of it this way, that is a whole spectrum of the radiance and brilliance of the single statement,3600:03:38,000 –> 00:03:46,320God is love. You want to follow this subject further I found great help in reading Don Carson’s3700:03:46,320 –> 00:03:53,199book The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God, where he makes this point. I find it very helpful3800:03:53,199 –> 00:04:02,080just to clarify, that indeed when we say God is love, there is a whole spectrum of meaning,3900:04:02,080 –> 00:04:10,720a spectrum of color that radiates from that single statement. Let me set out just five4000:04:10,720 –> 00:04:17,359dimensions of the love of God for us to consider this morning. The first is that the Bible speaks4100:04:17,359 –> 00:04:26,239of, what we might describe as, his providential love. That is that God is kind and gives good4200:04:26,239 –> 00:04:32,880gift to his enemies as well as his friends. You remember the Lord Jesus spoke about this4300:04:32,880 –> 00:04:37,839providential love of God when he said that God makes the sun to rise on the just as well as4400:04:37,839 –> 00:04:45,760the unjust, he sends the rain on the good as well as the evil. It is a remarkable thing that God4500:04:45,760 –> 00:04:54,320gives wonderfully good gifts to incredibly wicked people. God loves his enemies.4600:04:56,320 –> 00:05:01,760If I say to my wife as I happened to do this last week, you know, I feel like buying you a gift.4700:05:01,760 –> 00:05:06,720Let’s go and hit the shops. That may be an expression of love, but there’s nothing very4800:05:06,720 –> 00:05:14,480surprising about it. But if you said to your worst enemy, hey I want to buy you a gift. I4900:05:14,480 –> 00:05:18,320just feel like doing that and why don’t we go and hit the shops and you choose.5000:05:19,519 –> 00:05:25,359You said that to your worst enemy, that would be truly remarkable. Now here is the amazing5100:05:25,359 –> 00:05:31,600dimension of God’s providential love that he gives good gifts to his enemies as well as to his5200:05:31,600 –> 00:05:40,320friends. One day, God’s enemies will come under his judgment but right now while being his enemies5300:05:40,320 –> 00:05:47,760they receive good gifts from the hand of the God they despise. Secondly, we may distinguish God’s5400:05:47,760 –> 00:05:55,440saving love for God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes5500:05:55,440 –> 00:06:00,160in him should not perish but have everlasting life. In other words, the Bible tells us that5600:06:00,160 –> 00:06:07,200in addition to a general kindness to all whether they be good or evil, God reaches out specifically5700:06:07,200 –> 00:06:13,279in Jesus Christ incredibly offering to all people in every culture, of every background5800:06:13,279 –> 00:06:19,600and whatever we have done an eternal salvation which may be received through faith in his son5900:06:19,600 –> 00:06:28,880Jesus Christ. And whoever believes, whoever is no longer God’s enemy but rather his friend.6000:06:29,600 –> 00:06:34,640And God says to all men and to all women and to you this morning whatever you have done,6100:06:35,600 –> 00:06:45,200believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. That is love, saving love.6200:06:47,160 –> 00:06:54,000Thirdly we may distinguish God’s covenant love. This is God’s firm and unshakable6300:06:54,000 –> 00:07:01,279commitment to his own people. Now notice that this is different from the first two.6400:07:01,299 –> 00:07:10,579You see if I can make it specific, Hitler and Stalin received God’s6500:07:10,579 –> 00:07:18,140providential love. They received good gifts from him.6600:07:18,619 –> 00:07:26,980Hitler and Stalin were included within the offer of God’s saving love. Whoever6700:07:26,980 –> 00:07:32,500believes in him, that offer is extended to all in the course of their lifetime6800:07:32,500 –> 00:07:38,859whatever they have done. But we have no reason to believe that these men knew6900:07:38,859 –> 00:07:45,980anything of his covenant love. This is the love that God sets upon his covenant7000:07:45,980 –> 00:07:52,299people, that is those who have been redeemed by his grace, those who have7100:07:52,299 –> 00:07:57,059been raised to spiritual life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and7200:07:57,059 –> 00:08:03,600obedience to his commands. In the Old Testament, of course, this community was7300:08:03,600 –> 00:08:09,640Israel, the community of faith, and God bound himself to these people in an7400:08:09,640 –> 00:08:18,940unbreakable covenant of love, I will be your God, you will be my people, you will7500:08:18,940 –> 00:08:26,500be holy as I am holy, and God’s people as we know broke that covenant in all7600:08:26,500 –> 00:08:32,460kinds of ways, but God could not give up loving his own redeemed people. The book7700:08:32,460 –> 00:08:36,359of Uzzia describes this for us very powerfully through the story of a man7800:08:36,359 –> 00:08:42,820whose wife was consistently persistently unfaithful, and God used that as a7900:08:43,000 –> 00:08:49,179picture of the tearing of his own heart on account of the unfaithfulness of his8000:08:49,179 –> 00:08:53,140own redeemed people to him. But then in the book of Uzzia, God says these8100:08:53,140 –> 00:08:59,799incredible words, oh Ephraim, speaking of his own people, how can I give you up? I8200:08:59,799 –> 00:09:07,000can’t stop loving you, God says, because you are my covenant people. You see the8300:09:07,039 –> 00:09:12,979distinction, a providential love in which God gives good gifts to incredibly8400:09:12,979 –> 00:09:16,919wicked people. We sometimes ask the question you know, why do bad things8500:09:16,919 –> 00:09:19,919happen to good people? Here’s another question, why do good things happen to8600:09:19,919 –> 00:09:24,799bad people? That’s God’s providential love. His saving love that is offered to8700:09:24,799 –> 00:09:29,880all so that in the course of lifetime, all whatever you have done have an8800:09:29,880 –> 00:09:35,559opportunity of coming to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. His8900:09:35,820 –> 00:09:41,700covenant love that embraces his redeemed people. A love of which he says I cannot9000:09:41,700 –> 00:09:48,900give you up. Fourthly, His disciplining love, this is again a love that is9100:09:48,900 –> 00:09:54,679particularly directed towards his own people. It is the love by which he forms9200:09:54,679 –> 00:09:58,679the likeness of Jesus Christ in his own children. We read about this in Hebrews9300:09:59,140 –> 00:10:05,659chapter 12. The Lord disciplines those who he loves, and he punishes everyone he9400:10:05,659 –> 00:10:10,780accepts as a son. So endure hardship as discipline because God is treating you9500:10:10,780 –> 00:10:18,780as sons. Again this is something that is unique to God’s own redeemed people. The9600:10:18,780 –> 00:10:25,380wicked do not experience this love. The Bible tells us of the wicked what God9700:10:25,719 –> 00:10:28,979does with them. Romans chapter 1 is he gives them up,9800:10:28,979 –> 00:10:35,719that’s why they ultimately end up in hell, but with God’s children he does not9900:10:35,719 –> 00:10:41,700do that. He allows the wicked to go their own way. He honors their own choice. He10000:10:41,700 –> 00:10:47,559gives them up Paul says in Romans, but with his own children he distinctly10100:10:47,559 –> 00:10:53,159intervenes to prevent them from going astray. He disciplines those who he loves.10200:10:53,159 –> 00:10:57,880That’s one of the privileges of being within this covenant community of God’s10300:10:57,880 –> 00:11:03,119people, that he disciplines those who he loves. He does not regard us as outside10400:11:03,119 –> 00:11:07,799of his family but in his family. So that is why the Bible says judgment begins10500:11:07,799 –> 00:11:14,260with the House of God. Wonderful thing really to be under the disciplining love10600:11:14,260 –> 00:11:19,460of God. And then firstly what I describe as best10700:11:19,539 –> 00:11:25,440I can as God’s affirming love. We’re referring here to the joyful10800:11:25,440 –> 00:11:30,739affirmation that the children of God know when they’re walking in fellowship10900:11:30,739 –> 00:11:38,020with him. The ways in which, by the Holy Spirit, God says, I love you. That11000:11:38,020 –> 00:11:44,359relational intimacy, that affirmation, in which, as Paul puts it in Romans, the11100:11:44,479 –> 00:11:50,039love of God is shared abroad in our hearts. It floods our souls by the Holy11200:11:50,039 –> 00:11:55,919Spirit, so that we come to know and feel that we are truly loved by God. This11300:11:55,919 –> 00:12:00,799is, of course, what Adam and Eve knew in the garden. They walked with the Lord11400:12:00,799 –> 00:12:05,739God in the cool of the day. There’s no need for saving love then, no need for11500:12:05,739 –> 00:12:10,419disciplining love then, no particular aspect of providential love then, of11600:12:10,640 –> 00:12:14,260course, because they were only Adam and Eve in the garden and all things were11700:12:14,260 –> 00:12:21,539provided for them. But the Lord God came and, sharing their work, sharing their11800:12:21,539 –> 00:12:29,299relationship, sharing their very lives. They experienced by walking with God in11900:12:29,299 –> 00:12:39,880the garden, in the cool of the day, the affirmation of the love of God. And guess12000:12:39,880 –> 00:12:49,119what, they found a way of getting out of it, didn’t they? They did. And there12100:12:49,119 –> 00:12:53,599begins the whole of the Bible story. You’re listening to Open the Bible with12200:12:53,599 –> 00:12:59,280Pastor Colin Smith, and a message called Remain In God’s Love. Part of our series12300:12:59,280 –> 00:13:03,760Keeping Yourself in Spiritual Shape. We’ve got to pause the message there12400:13:03,760 –> 00:13:08,619briefly but we’ll be back very shortly. Open the Bible is able to stay on this12500:13:09,320 –> 00:13:13,179and the internet and available as a podcast because of the generous12600:13:13,179 –> 00:13:17,580financial support of our listeners that’s people like you. And if you12700:13:17,580 –> 00:13:22,679already give to support the work thank you so much. If supporting Open the Bible12800:13:22,679 –> 00:13:26,500is something you’d like to start doing this month we’re delighted to offer a12900:13:26,500 –> 00:13:31,820free gift. When you set up a new direct debit to the work of Open the Bible in13000:13:31,820 –> 00:13:36,760the amount of five pounds per month or more or a one-off gift of fifty pounds or13100:13:36,960 –> 00:13:42,419we’d love to say thank you by sending you a free copy of Pastor Colin’s new13200:13:42,419 –> 00:13:48,359book Hike Through the Bible. Colin where did the idea for this book come from?13300:13:48,359 –> 00:13:53,140Well, we have Fly Through the Bible for those who are looking for a place to13400:13:53,140 –> 00:13:57,900begin then Drive Through the Bible obviously takes people a bit further but13500:13:57,900 –> 00:14:02,919for everyone that wants to get serious about the Bible story, Hike Through the13600:14:03,000 –> 00:14:06,479Bible is for you. I mean this is where you get your boots on the ground and13700:14:06,479 –> 00:14:12,039really get to grips with what the Bible is all about and you’ll discover that13800:14:12,039 –> 00:14:16,979the whole Bible is one story, that the whole of it points to our Lord and13900:14:16,979 –> 00:14:21,359Saviour Jesus Christ. I wrote this for people who want to have a better14000:14:21,359 –> 00:14:26,140grasp of the Bible. I wrote it for people who want to have a deeper love for the14100:14:26,140 –> 00:14:30,299Lord Jesus Christ and just by way of encouragement, if you think that hiking14200:14:30,380 –> 00:14:36,059sounds like hard work, well you can hike at a gentle pace. This is fifty chapters14300:14:36,059 –> 00:14:40,859and that’s designed so that you could do one a week, a nice gentle hike through14400:14:40,859 –> 00:14:45,659the Bible, so that at the end of the year you really have grasped the Bible as a14500:14:45,659 –> 00:14:50,280whole and you’ve got a clearer grip on what it is that God is saying into your14600:14:50,280 –> 00:14:54,619life. Well we’d love to send you Colin’s new book when you set up a new14700:14:55,280 –> 00:15:00,500debit of five pounds per month or more or a one-off gift of fifty pounds or14800:15:00,500 –> 00:15:05,659more this month. Full terms and conditions online at our website14900:15:05,659 –> 00:15:09,219openthebible.org.uk and you can give online.15000:15:13,900 –> 00:15:16,380Back to the message now, here again is Colin.15100:15:16,380 –> 00:15:22,619So is it possible to slip outside of God’s love? Is it possible for15200:15:22,619 –> 00:15:26,979a believer to slip outside of God’s love? Well, see that’s actually a more complex15300:15:26,979 –> 00:15:31,059question than it first meets the eye. If you’re talking about God’s covenant love15400:15:31,059 –> 00:15:36,520the answer is certainly no. if you’re talking about God’s affirming love of15500:15:36,520 –> 00:15:41,380this walking in fellowship with God the answer is certainly yes. These15600:15:41,380 –> 00:15:47,460distinctions are important and it’s useful I think for us to bear them in15700:15:47,460 –> 00:15:51,299mind when we come to over simplistic statements. You see folks say things like15800:15:51,299 –> 00:15:56,140this, you know, well of course God loves everybody just the same.15900:15:56,140 –> 00:16:01,820Well is that true? Well if you’re talking about his providential love then it is16000:16:01,820 –> 00:16:06,900self evidently true. If you’re talking about his saving love that is equally16100:16:06,900 –> 00:16:11,020offered to all. It’s not offered to more to people who’ve lived a more16200:16:11,020 –> 00:16:13,919conservative moral life than those who’ve kicked over the traces, it’s16300:16:13,919 –> 00:16:19,020offered equally to all, wonderful thing. But if you’re talking about God’s16400:16:19,840 –> 00:16:24,299Disciplining love or his affirming love, it is certainly not the case that God16500:16:24,299 –> 00:16:33,359loves all people the same. When people say God’s love is unconditional, is that16600:16:33,359 –> 00:16:38,940true? Well it’s certainly true if you’re talking about his saving love it’s16700:16:38,940 –> 00:16:43,260certainly true if you’re talking about his covenant lover, his providential love16800:16:43,260 –> 00:16:50,320but when it comes to God’s affirming love there is a condition. You will16900:16:50,320 –> 00:17:00,739remain in my love said Jesus, if that’s a condition, you obey my commands. So it is17000:17:00,739 –> 00:17:05,319important if we’re to avoid confusion and there is great confusion over this17100:17:05,319 –> 00:17:10,000theme of the love of God that we must give proper weight to all that the Bible17200:17:10,119 –> 00:17:16,020says about the love of God. The love of God is free unchangeable unconditional17300:17:16,020 –> 00:17:22,239unmerited and unearned, but at the same time Christ calls us to remain in his17400:17:22,239 –> 00:17:27,979love and makes it quite clear that to do that we must obey his commands. And I17500:17:27,979 –> 00:17:32,459hope to show you in the time that we have this morning why we need that17600:17:32,459 –> 00:17:39,160integration of God’s full revelation in Scripture because God addresses it at17700:17:39,160 –> 00:17:44,619particular points in particular ways so that all of us need every part of this17800:17:44,619 –> 00:17:52,420incredible spectrum of the glory of the love of God. Now then let’s come to this17900:17:52,420 –> 00:17:57,040third workout. If we’re to keep ourselves in spiritual shape, Jude says whatever18000:17:57,040 –> 00:18:05,380you do, keep yourselves in the love of God. Now how are we going to do that? I18100:18:05,380 –> 00:18:11,760I want to suggest three simple exercises in this third workout. We’ll spend most18200:18:11,760 –> 00:18:15,900of our time on the first, and then more briefly on the second two. The three18300:18:15,900 –> 00:18:22,400exercises are simply remember, obey and reflect. Number one, remember. How are you18400:18:22,400 –> 00:18:29,560going to keep yourself in the love of God? Number one, remember. When you are18500:18:29,719 –> 00:18:35,380tempted to doubt God’s love for you, call to mind the unchangeable and18600:18:35,380 –> 00:18:41,819indisputable and overwhelming evidence of God’s love for you in the Lord Jesus18700:18:41,819 –> 00:18:47,160Christ. That’s where you begin. So, you’re struggling with some overwhelming18800:18:47,160 –> 00:18:50,959difficulties as you’ve come to church today. You wonder how you’re going to face18900:18:50,959 –> 00:18:53,219this coming week. You’ve said at the back of your mind,19000:18:53,219 –> 00:18:58,140I don’t know if God really cares about me at all. I’m saying to you from the19100:18:58,140 –> 00:19:04,760scriptures, begin here by calling to your mind intentionally, the overwhelming and19200:19:04,760 –> 00:19:11,680indisputable evidence of God’s love in Jesus. God demonstrates his love for us19300:19:11,680 –> 00:19:20,599in this. That while we were still sinners Christ died for us. Now, some of us19400:19:20,599 –> 00:19:25,579desperately need to work this into our minds and into our souls. We have been19500:19:25,939 –> 00:19:30,939plagued with a psychology that we’ve grown up with, a way of thinking that19600:19:30,939 –> 00:19:37,380says that I will only be loved by God if I earn that love. Some of us really think19700:19:37,380 –> 00:19:41,739like that and we find it very, very difficult to get away from that. I want to19800:19:41,739 –> 00:19:46,819speak directly to that this morning, remember the love of God. Let me try and19900:19:46,819 –> 00:19:51,560make it a little more personal by taking an example. We’re going to have two20000:19:51,560 –> 00:19:54,680imaginary characters this morning. Here’s the first. We’ll call them Bill and Ben,20100:19:54,939 –> 00:19:59,119we’ll have Bill now, we’ll have Ben later. Okay, Bill’s in high school,20200:19:59,119 –> 00:20:04,579imaginary character. Bill has been brought up in an evangelical church just20300:20:04,579 –> 00:20:09,579like this where he is taught that God loves him. He believes this and he has20400:20:09,579 –> 00:20:16,160put his faith in Jesus Christ. Bill’s a perfectionist and he’s rather shy,20500:20:16,160 –> 00:20:21,839timid by nature. He’s had throughout his high school career a string of straight20600:20:21,979 –> 00:20:27,979A’s in his school report. That’s what he aims for Bill. And when he doesn’t get it20700:20:27,979 –> 00:20:33,119he’s pretty disappointed with himself. He’s a sincere lad and he genuinely20800:20:33,119 –> 00:20:37,500wants to please God. He has many fears though and he sometimes wonders if God20900:20:37,500 –> 00:20:43,579can really love him. When it comes to the communion service he sits and wonders if21000:20:43,579 –> 00:20:47,859he should really take the bread and wine because there are, after all, many things21100:20:47,859 –> 00:20:52,939in Bill’s life that are not really as they should be. His thought life is one21200:20:52,939 –> 00:20:59,420of them. He really struggles with that one. And then last week when he was at21300:20:59,420 –> 00:21:03,959school there were some kids who really got on his case and he lost it. He let21400:21:03,959 –> 00:21:10,260out, that afternoon, a string of foul language and he felt so ashamed.21500:21:10,260 –> 00:21:16,140A Christian doesn’t behave like that, Bill said to himself. In fact sometimes Bill has21600:21:16,140 –> 00:21:18,900wondered if he’s really a Christian at all.21700:21:18,900 –> 00:21:26,680Bill needs to remind himself of God’s love by grasping God’s unconditional21800:21:26,680 –> 00:21:35,219love to him as he is. Bill you do not earn the love of God with your straight21900:21:35,219 –> 00:21:45,260A’s. You do not earn the love of God by achieving victory over every temptation.22000:21:45,420 –> 00:21:53,260Bill, God does not stop loving you when you fail. God loves you Bill with an22100:21:53,260 –> 00:22:01,579everlasting and unchangeable love. Now you may be a little older or younger22200:22:01,579 –> 00:22:06,859than Bill, but essentially that’s what you need to get into your mind because22300:22:06,859 –> 00:22:11,660you struggle with the same thought pattern as he does. How are you going to22400:22:11,660 –> 00:22:16,300get that into your mind? There’s three ways to remember. First, the Lord’s22500:22:16,300 –> 00:22:22,119Supper. Let’s begin there. You see, at the very center of Christian worship, God22600:22:22,119 –> 00:22:31,180has given us an exercise to keep you in spiritual shape. We come to a table where22700:22:31,180 –> 00:22:36,459we receive bread and wine that direct our attention if we follow God’s sign22800:22:36,619 –> 00:22:42,880posts to a cross where the body of Jesus was broken and the blood of Jesus was22900:22:42,880 –> 00:22:53,160shed for you. This is love the Bible says. Not that we loved God, but that God has23000:22:53,160 –> 00:23:02,339loved us and given his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. And God23100:23:02,579 –> 00:23:08,699uses the Supper to tell you that he loves you.23200:23:08,699 –> 00:23:15,060God’s love is more wonderful and complex than we can possibly imagine. You’ve been23300:23:15,060 –> 00:23:19,959listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Remain23400:23:19,959 –> 00:23:25,180in God’s Love. It’s part of the larger series Keeping Yourself in Spiritual23500:23:25,180 –> 00:23:29,699Shape. And if you’ve missed any of the programs so far or if you want to go23600:23:29,699 –> 00:23:33,900back and listen again, it’s easy to do that by coming online to our website23700:23:35,579 –> 00:23:39,660openthebible.org.uk. There you’ll find all Pastor Colin’s messages which have23800:23:39,660 –> 00:23:44,380already been broadcast. And you can also find them as a podcast on all the main23900:23:44,380 –> 00:23:49,300podcast sites by searching for openthebible.uk or by following a link24000:23:49,300 –> 00:23:54,319from our website. While you’re on the website, why not check out Open the Bible24100:23:54,439 –> 00:23:59,939Daily. That’s our series of short two to three minute daily reflections based on24200:23:59,939 –> 00:24:05,599Pastor Colin’s teaching and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish. In my family, we24300:24:05,599 –> 00:24:10,880enjoy hiking and it would be great to go on a hike with you, Colin. Listeners have24400:24:10,880 –> 00:24:14,500an opportunity to do that with the Hike Through The Bible podcast.24500:24:14,520 –> 00:24:19,619Yes, I am inviting you to join me on a hike through the Bible and it is going to24600:24:19,619 –> 00:24:25,640be a gentle, easy pace of a hike. Each week, you’ll read a chapter of the Bible24700:24:25,640 –> 00:24:31,020and a chapter of my book, Hike Through The Bible and in one year, you’ll have24800:24:31,020 –> 00:24:35,619read 50 chapters of the Bible, you’ll have grasped the big picture of the24900:24:35,619 –> 00:24:41,300Bible story and most of all, you’ll have grown in your love for Jesus Christ.25000:24:41,300 –> 00:24:45,780Now, there’s a Hike Through The Bible podcast to help you on this journey.25100:24:45,979 –> 00:24:50,500In each episode, I read a chapter of the book and then I discuss it with some25200:24:50,500 –> 00:24:54,979friends. So get started now. You can subscribe to Hike Through The Bible25300:24:54,979 –> 00:25:00,060podcast wherever you get your podcasts and you can find out more information on25400:25:03,439 –> 00:25:07,939You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick25500:25:08,020 –> 00:25:12,880and I look forward to being with you next time.25600:25:15,900 –> 00:25:23,959Do you find yourself regularly doubting God’s love for you find out what to do25700:25:23,959 –> 00:25:28,680about it next time on Open the Bible