Restore Hope, Part 2

Isaiah 61
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We delve into the profound concept of the Jubilee, the year of the Lord’s favour, as proclaimed by Jesus Christ himself. Discover the compassionate laws intended for the Old Testament people and how Jesus embodies the fulfilment of what was never enacted throughout history.

Join us as Pastor Colin shares the significance of the Jubilee, touching on themes of freedom, redemption, and the profound cost borne by Christ for humanity’s sake. Listen attentively as we explore the bridge between the hopeful beginnings in Jesus’ first coming and the ultimate fulfilment projected in His second coming—a conquering warrior triumphant over all darkness and evil.

Whether you’re new to the Christian faith or seeking deeper understanding, this episode will leave you with a renewed sense of hope, grounding you in the reality of Christ’s victory and His unchanging promise. So tune in, embrace the encouragement, and let your soul be restored with the life-changing message of hope in Christ.

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‘… Christ says, They haven’t proclaimed the Jubilee once, and you know what?

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They never will.

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But I will do it.

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I have come to proclaim the year of God’s favour, in other words, Jesus is saying I

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have come to do for you what you would never do for each other…’

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.

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I’m David Pick.

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And Colin, before we get going today I think we need to explain exactly what this Jubilee,

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this year of the Lord’s favour, actually is.

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Oh, a whole set of laws in the Old Testament that were wonderfully compassionate laws of

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God.

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Every seven years all debts to be canceled.

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Wouldn’t that be marvelous?

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Every seven years all slaves to be set free.

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Every fifty years all lost inheritances to be returned to the family of origin.

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Marvelously compassionate laws, but very costly, especially for the powerful and for

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the rich.

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And so they were never enacted, never done once in the entire span of the Old Testament

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until Jesus comes and He says, now I am going to do this, I am going to proclaim the year

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of the Lord’s favour.

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That was what He was referring to.

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I’ll do for you what you would never have done for each other.

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And we see exactly how Jesus did that in today’s message.

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So please join us, if you can, as we continue the message, Restore Hope, here’s Colin.

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Now, God gave these laws to Moses, remember, for his Old Testament people when they were

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in the land of Israel and he’s telling them what they’re to do when they inherit the Promised

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Land coming into Canaan.

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And he says when you come into the Promised Land, here is what you are to do.

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Every 50 years, sound the trumpet and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.

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Now, how often do you think this happened?

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Answer?

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Never!

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Nada!

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Not once!

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Not once!

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And so by the time of Isaiah, understand that God’s people had now been in the land 700

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years.

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By the time of Isaiah, there should have been 14 different Jubilees and there hadn’t been

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a single one.

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The trumpet had never sounded, the year of God’s favor was never proclaimed, which is

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why the Old Testament prophets are so scathing on the way in which the rich were oppressing

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the poor.

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They simply systematically ignored the law of God when it was going to be costly to them.

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So now back to Isaiah 61, and as the poor are oppressed and as the insensitivity towards

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their need continues generation after generation, God says someone’s going to come who’s anointed

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to preach good news to the poor.

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In verse 2, this person is going to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.

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He’s going to sound the trumpet.

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He is going to bring in the jubilee that has never once happened in all the history

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of Israel.

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Well, of course that raises the question, who’s he talking about?

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Well, now would you turn forward in your Bible to Luke’s Gospel in chapter 4?

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This will be familiar to many of us I think.

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Luke’s Gospel and chapter 4.

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Because it’s very significant that the Lord Jesus Christ chose these words from Isaiah

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to launch His own public ministry.

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Chapter 4 in verse 17, try and picture the setting, the Lord Jesus Christ is in the synagogue,

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and verse 17 the scroll of the prophet Isaiah is handed to Jesus.

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Unrolling it, He finds, so He chose the reading, He finds the place where it is written the

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spirit of the Lord is upon me because He has anointed me to preach good news to the

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poor and to proclaim, verse 19, the year of God’s favor.

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So Jesus applies this to Himself, the spirit of the Lord is on me, He’s saying, to proclaim

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the year of God’s favor to bring in the Jubilee that has never once been known in all the

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history of God’s people.

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Then follow what it says, Jesus rolled up the scroll and He gave it back to the attendant

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and sat down and the eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on Him and He began,

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first, public utterence of Jesus.

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He began by saying, today this Scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.

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It’s marvelous.

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Christ says, They haven’t proclaimed the Jubilee once.

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And you know what?

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They never will.

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But I will do it.

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I have come to proclaim the year of God’s favor.

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In other words, Jesus is saying, I have come to do for you what you would never do for

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each other to cancel every debt that you owe to God, to set you free from the slavery that

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you know to the power of sin and Satan, and to give back to you the inheritance that Adam

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lost, that is, the inheritance of joy and life in his presence forever and forever.

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That is the promise of the Gospel.

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It is the most marvelous good news.

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But remember, when you think about the year of God’s favor that is such a blessing to

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us that we celebrate in our worship every week, comes at incredible cost to Him.

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If you write off a debt, you incur a loss in the amount of that debt yourself, and when

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Jesus comes to proclaim the jubilee and to write off all of our debts towards God, it

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means that God is incurring that debt in Himself, and this is why Jesus went to the cross.

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He bore the loss to cancel our debts, to set us free, and to restore our inheritance.

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God cancelling debts, God freeing slaves, God restoring inheritances in Christ.

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That’s the gospel.

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Now I want you to notice, and this is marvelous when you see it, I want you to notice if you

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look between Luke, chapter 4, and back to Isaiah, chapter 61, I want you to notice where

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Jesus stopped in his reading on that Sabbath when he inaugurated his public ministry.

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Let’s look at chapter 61 and verse 2.

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The Anointed One will proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour and the day of vengeance

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of our God.

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Turn over to Luke chapter 4 and you see where Jesus stopped to proclaim verse 19, The year

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of the Lord’s favour, period.

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In other words, when Jesus was reading from the scroll, he stopped mid-sentence.

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He stopped halfway through what Isaiah was saying.

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Why in all the world, when Jesus was choosing the reading, did he stop in the middle of

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a sentence and say, I have come to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour?

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Why didn’t he finish the sentence?

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Because he went on to say today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing, and thank God

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that when Jesus came into the world, born as a baby, through his death and through his

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resurrection, he brought in the year of the Lord’s favour.

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He did not at that time bring in the day of God’s vengeance.

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I say thank God for that because if Jesus had brought in the day of God’s vengeance

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in his first coming into the world, none of us would be here today.

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The world as we know it would have ended 2000 years ago in a blitz of God’s judgment.

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So Jesus stops half-way through what Isaiah says mid-sentence, I’m the compassionate

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saviour that’s coming to bring this freedom from debt and release from slavery to sin

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and to restore inheritance.

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You say, well, what about the day of God’s vengeance?

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Well, Jesus spoke about that too.

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John chapter 5 and verse 28 he said, a time is coming when those who’re in their graves

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will hear the voice of God, and those who’ve done good will rise to live, and those who

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have done evil will rise to be condemned.

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But Jesus said that time is coming.

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It has not come yet.

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So Isaiah sees this coming anointed one, bringing both the year of God’s favor and the day of

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God’s vengeance almost like looking at a mountain, and you think it’s one mountain, actually

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it’s two mountains one behind the other, and we’re living right in between times, in the

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favor not yet having reached the day of God’s vengeance.

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That’s the incredible privilege that is ours as Christian believers.

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In his first coming he brings in the year, notice the emphasis there, the year of God’s

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favor.

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In his second coming he will bring in the day of God’s vengeance.

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Ray Ortlen puts it this way.

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Christ fulfills all the Old Testament prophecies but he doesn’t fulfill them all at the same

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We’ve got to pause briefly there, but we’ll get right back to the message.

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You’re listening to Open the Bible, with Pastor Colin Smith, and the message today

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is called Restore Hope.

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It’s part of a larger series, Restore My Soul, and if you’ve missed any of the series

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you want to go back and listen again, do that by coming online to our website

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openthekbible.org.uk

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or if you’re a podcast listener, then you can find Pastor Colin’s messages

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on your favourite podcast site, simply go there and search for Open The Bible UK

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and subscribe to receive regular podcast updates.

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You’ll also find a link to the Podcasts on our website

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Back to the message now, here’s Colin

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Christ fulfils all the Old Testament prophecies

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but He doesn’t fulfil them all at the same time

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So that’s why I want us to look in this last part today

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at the second vision that is given to Isaiah

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because hope is begun through the coming of the compassionate Saviour into the world

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but our world is very, very far from what God purposes the new heaven and the new earth to be

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therefore we need also chapter 63, that speaks of how our hope will be fulfilled

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in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ

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So we’ve looked at hope that comes from a compassionate Saviour

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I want us to see now hope that will be fulfilled in the return of a conquering warrior

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Chapter 63

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Isaiah is seeing another vision now, and he says verse 1, Who is this?

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Who is this coming out of Edom?

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One in all the world is this

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One simple thing to understand and then you will get the picture

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The Edomites were the ancient and constant enemies of the people of God

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They were descended from Esau

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And you may remember that back in the Old Testament in the book of Genesis

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Esau was a godless man

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he is described in that way in the book of Hebrews, in chapter 12 and verse 16

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Edom was descended from Esau who despised his birthright

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despised the things of God

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And so, as you go on in the story of the Bible,

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Edom comes to represent

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antagonism towards God

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Hatred towards God’s people

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All manifestations of evil and mankind in his rebellion against God

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But now Isaiah says, who is this coming from Edom?

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from Bosra

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now, Bosra was the capital of Edom

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with his garments stained crimson

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So, get the picture now

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Isaiah is seeing someone come out of this country of Edom

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He’s coming towards Jerusalem

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And this figure that Isaiah sees, he looks absolutely magnificent

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He is obviously a hero, he is a champion

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He is robed, verse 1, in splendor

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and he is striding forward in the greatness of his strength

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Now as Isaiah look and sees this figure coming towards him out of Edom

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It’s immediately obvious that he has been involved in some dreadful kind of a fight

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That’s obvious because his clothes are spattered in blood

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So Isaiah asks, verse 1, why are your garments red?

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You look like someone who’s been treading a wine press

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You know the red grapes. And someone who was treading a wine press

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Imagine what their clothes would look like if they were treading out grapes

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Isaiah says, this is what he looked like

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His clothes are all spattered red

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Now this warrior who’s coming out of Edom

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What else do we know about him?

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He clearly won the fight that he was in

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Because the blood on his clothes is not his own blood

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It is the blood of his enemies

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Verse 3, I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath

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Their blood, spattered my garments

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So you see the picture now, that’s emerging

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As he is seeing in this vision.

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A champion, a warrior.

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Who is coming, striding victorious out of Edom

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Having gone in there, the place of the enemies of God

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He’s gone in single handed, he’s on his own

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He’s gone in like a kind of David against Goliath

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And you think that one man however great he is

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Going into all the power of Edom

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All the forces of darkness and evil of this world

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He’s never gonna come out of there alive

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But here he comes

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And Isaiah sees that his clothes are spattered

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Not with his own blood, but with the blood of his enemies

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And Isaiah says as you could imagine

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He says, well who is this?

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Who is this?

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Christians know who this is

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Because John

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The Apostle was given exactly the same vision as Isaiah

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In the book of Revelation

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And if you turn to it with me

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You’ll see that in Revelation and chapter 19

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Revelation and chapter 19

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Nearly at the end of the Bible

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And here’s what John the Apostle sees

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As he is given a glimpse of Jesus Christ coming in glory

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John 19 11

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I saw heaven he says standing open

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And there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True

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Verse 13

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The rider of this horse is dressed in a robe dipped in blood

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And his name is the Word of God

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Verse 15

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He treads the winepress of the Fury of the Roth of God Almighty

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And on his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and

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Lord of Lords

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Isaiah saw

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John saw

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Jesus Christ

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Isaiah sees him first as the compassionate Saviour

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Canceling debts

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releasing slaves

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restoring lost inheritance. That’s chapter 61 then in chapter 63

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he sees the same Lord Jesus Christ as the conquering warrior as

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the sovereign Lord

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See, he’s not one or the other he’s both and

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That’s where the hope of Christian people is found

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in knowing Jesus Christ your

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Compassionate Savior, who is also your conquering warrior

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Now, why did God give Isaiah this vision? Let’s try and bring it nearer to us now

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well look back to the chapter we just skipped over chapter 62 of Isaiah and

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You’ll see there what’s going on Gods people are discouraged

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They’ve been longing for God’s blessing to come on their nation

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But they’ve been losing hope

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Verse 6 faithful people have been asking for God’s blessing calling on the Lord giving him no rest

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Longing for him to establish Jerusalem and to make her the praise of the earth

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But it hasn’t happened

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the enemies of God’s people who are always

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Supremely confident. Have you noticed that people who do not believe are so confident in their rejection of God and

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The enemies of God’s people are saying in verse 4 well you who believe you’re deserted there’s no future for the church

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You’re desolate. I mean you’re down and out. I mean really the culture is moving away from you. You’ve no chance. You have no future

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Watchmen verse 6 are posted now on the walls of Jerusalem, and they’re looking out

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And their longing and they’re waiting and they’re praying and they’re hoping and they’re asking God to do something to bless their country

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and

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Suddenly someone comes out of Edom

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Someone says who’s this

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Suddenly everyone his hope

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Who is this someone has gone in there

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and

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Dealt with

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The evil

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That plagues our lives and our world

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2000 years after the coming of Jesus

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We’re exactly where the Watchmen were on the walls of Jerusalem

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We have

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Acts of evil and violence and terrorism and war and hatred and crime

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that make us look at our world and say how long O lord and

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How do you keep going as a Christian believer when you’ve been praying

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But honestly you feel discouraged you feel jaded you feel defeated

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You look at the world and just say this is so far from heaven

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It

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See hope comes when we grasp both of Isaiah’s visions

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the writer to the hebrews puts it this way, he says you know when we’re looking at the world this is hebrews chapter 2 in verse 9

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When we’re looking at the world, we do not see everything subject to jesus

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We see the evil the atrocities of this world we do not see everything subject to Jesus

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But what we do see and he’s talking now about Christian believers what we do see is this

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We see jesus crowned with glory and honor

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See that’s what faith sees

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If I see Jesus Crowned in Glory and honor if by Faith I

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Have grasped the vision that this Jesus is not simply the compassionate Savior who came in to

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Release Debts and set slaves free into restore inheritance’s but he is the conquering Lord who not only has hope begun for us

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But one day will bring hope to fulfillment for us when I see that then I am sustained in Faith and in Prayer

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So I want you to get this picture of Christ triumphant in your mind

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Either Christ’s Blood is splattered on you

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Or one day your blood will be splattered on him

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Ultimately

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Every one of us knows Him either as gracious Savior

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or as

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terrible judge

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Christ came to save you from the day of God’s vengeance

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He came to proclaim the year of God’s favor and you’re living in it now

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Stop fighting Him

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Stop living for the things of this world

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Come to him today

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Tell him that you need his grace and his mercy

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Ask him to be your Savior

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And then surrender yourself wholly to him as your sovereign Lord

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and as your King

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Perhaps as you hear that you’d like to take the step of trusting the Lord Jesus Christ

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and asking him to come in to your life as Savior

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Maybe go and talk to a trusted Christian friend or family member or go along to your local Christian fellowship

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and talk to the folk there, talk to the pastor, go and pray with the prayer ministry team

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Today’s message was called Restore Hope and it’s part of our series restore my soul

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Which you can find on our website if you’ve missed any of the series, that’s at openthebible.org.uk

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and you can also find Pastor Colin Smiths messages as podcasts on your favorite podcast site

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Go to your favorite podcast site search for open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates

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You’ll also find a link to the podcast on our website

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At Open The Bible we welcome contact with our listeners

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If you’ve been blessed by Pastor Colin Smiths teaching and you’d like to reach out to us

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There are several ways you can do that

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You can write to us at Open the Bible. PO Box 1420 Cheltenham, GL 50 9PG

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or you can phone us on 0330 335 8089

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If we’re not available when you call, leave a message for us and we’ll return your call

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All of these contact details are available on our website

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openthebible.org.uk

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Open The Bible is supported by our listeners

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and this month if you’ve been considering setting up a new payment in support of Open The Bible

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we have a great offer for you

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To say thank you we’ll send you a copy of C.H Spurgeon’s book

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Encouragement For The Depressed

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Colin, how will C.H Spurgeon’s book help those who feel discouraged today?

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Well, Spurgeon is really a very tender shepherd

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he was a pastor, and he spoke with great strength

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00:23:57,500 –> 00:23:59,500

but also with great gentleness

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that arose really out of his own experience of suffering

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and especially what he sometimes referred to as the black dog

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There was a darkness that sometimes came over him

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and it was a real struggle in his life

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I mean he says, for example,

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The strong are not always vigorous

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The Wise are not always ready

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00:24:18,780 –> 00:24:21,239

The Brave are not always courageous

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00:24:21,239 –> 00:24:23,239

And the Joyous are not always happy

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00:24:23,819 –> 00:24:28,380

So this is a realistic view of the Christian life

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00:24:28,380 –> 00:24:32,760

he’s speaking into the realities that we all experience

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and he’s speaking out of his own personal experience

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is a wonderful encouragement to lay our burdens on the Lord

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and to trust His Promises even in the darkest times

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we would love to send you a copy of this Book

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to say thank you for supporting Open the Bible.

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this offer is available all this Month

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if you are able to set up a new donation

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00:24:56,680 –> 00:24:58,680

to the work of open the Bible

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00:24:58,680 –> 00:25:01,959

in the amount of £5 pounds per month or more

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00:25:01,959 –> 00:25:03,959

full details or to give online

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00:25:04,040 –> 00:25:05,239

just come to our website

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00:25:05,239 –> 00:25:08,040

openthebebel.org.uk

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00:25:08,040 –> 00:25:10,040

for open the Bible and pastor Colin Smith

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00:25:10,040 –> 00:25:12,839

I’m David Pick

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and I hope you’ll join us again next time

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00:25:20,140 –> 00:25:22,859

wherever you are in your Christian journey

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prayer is something that you can learn

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find out how 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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