100:00:00,580 –> 00:00:07,420And the great question is, in a world in which people are facing many pressures, many difficulties,200:00:07,420 –> 00:00:14,020many have ceased to believe, how are we, as Christian believers, to speak?300:00:14,020 –> 00:00:19,620Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, glad you could be with us today,400:00:19,620 –> 00:00:25,760and Colin, in a world where many seem to have forgotten about God, how do we speak about him?500:00:25,760 –> 00:00:29,020Yeah well, I’ve been very struck by the structure that’s in us to speak.600:00:29,160 –> 00:00:35,599The scripture that’s in Isaiah, chapter 40, that we’re looking at today – speak tenderly to Jerusalem.700:00:35,599 –> 00:00:37,740We live in a very harsh world.800:00:37,740 –> 00:00:42,400You just listen to, you know, the 24-hour news and the politicians battling it out,900:00:42,400 –> 00:00:43,900one side, and then another.1000:00:43,900 –> 00:00:48,599There’s a sort of underlying anger that seems to be even in public discourse,1100:00:48,599 –> 00:00:52,900and that can so easily seep into even the life of the church.1200:00:52,900 –> 00:01:00,160And we’re particularly told here, comfort, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem.1300:01:00,160 –> 00:01:04,879God says that about how we are to speak into the brokenness of this world.1400:01:04,879 –> 00:01:08,580Now, we’ve got to speak clearly, we’ve got to speak strongly,1500:01:08,580 –> 00:01:13,080but we’ve got to speak with a tenderness and with a compassion that reflects the Spirit of Christ.1600:01:13,080 –> 00:01:19,239That’s what we’re going to do today as we look into Isaiah chapter 40 in the first five verses,1700:01:19,239 –> 00:01:22,480as we begin the message The Glory of the Lord.1800:01:22,599 –> 00:01:23,519Here’s Colin1900:01:23,519 –> 00:01:27,120We’re continuing our Advent series that’s called Waiting on the Lord.2000:01:27,120 –> 00:01:30,339We began last week with this marvelous promise that2100:01:30,339 –> 00:01:35,639they who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.2200:01:35,639 –> 00:01:40,080And it’s not surprising that Isaiah chapter 40 ends with waiting on the Lord,2300:01:40,080 –> 00:01:46,720because the chapter is packed full of anticipations of the birth of Jesus Christ.2400:01:46,720 –> 00:01:50,059And so over these next weeks we’re going to look together at2500:01:50,279 –> 00:01:56,320these wonderful prophecies of the coming of our Savior from this chapter.2600:01:56,320 –> 00:02:01,660Now I want you to notice right from the beginning of the chapter that God himself is speaking.2700:02:01,660 –> 00:02:07,540Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.2800:02:07,540 –> 00:02:09,539So God is speaking.2900:02:09,539 –> 00:02:15,300And he is speaking through Isaiah the prophet, who’s recording these words.3000:02:15,300 –> 00:02:18,940But he is calling on someone else to speak.3100:02:18,940 –> 00:02:20,380Comfort, comfort my people.3200:02:20,380 –> 00:02:23,160Someone else is actually to be speaking this word of comfort.3300:02:23,160 –> 00:02:25,059So there’s a lot of voices here.3400:02:25,059 –> 00:02:30,259God speaking through Isaiah about someone else who, at some time in the future, is to speak.3500:02:30,259 –> 00:02:31,899And so what’s going on here?3600:02:31,899 –> 00:02:38,759Well, God had revealed to Isaiah that in future years God’s people would go through a great3700:02:38,759 –> 00:02:40,839time of trial.3800:02:40,839 –> 00:02:46,839And, in fact, the whole first 39 chapters of the book of Isaiah lay this out.3900:02:46,839 –> 00:02:49,039It makes grim reading.4000:02:49,039 –> 00:02:55,080The first part of the book of Isaiah is almost a relentless prophecy of judgment.4100:02:55,080 –> 00:02:59,940We get these repeated pictures of enemies coming to the gates, the city of Jerusalem4200:02:59,940 –> 00:03:07,139being plundered, the temple being destroyed, the people who survives being taken as prisoners4300:03:07,139 –> 00:03:11,360of war and becoming exiles in Babylon and so forth and so on.4400:03:11,360 –> 00:03:15,800All of this happened long after the time of Isaiah.4500:03:15,800 –> 00:03:21,460But when it did happen godly people needed to know what to do, and so what you have here4600:03:21,460 –> 00:03:29,259is God giving direction through Isaiah for people who in the future would be speaking4700:03:29,259 –> 00:03:31,360the word of God.4800:03:31,360 –> 00:03:36,699Godly people in the future coming to this time of disaster about which Isaiah had spoken,4900:03:36,699 –> 00:03:41,259they would look to the scriptures and they would be asking of the scriptures now what5000:03:41,539 –> 00:03:42,539to do?5100:03:42,539 –> 00:03:49,440How are we to respond to this especially difficult situation in which we find ourselves, and5200:03:49,440 –> 00:03:57,179so can you imagine the joy of these prisoners of war, these exiles?5300:03:57,179 –> 00:04:03,100Some of them have been born as exiles they have only ever known this captivity in Babylon,5400:04:03,100 –> 00:04:07,880and they read through the first 39 chapters of a scroll of Isaiah and they say oh yeah5500:04:08,039 –> 00:04:11,279all this destruction, all this judgement, all these terrible things that have happened,5600:04:11,279 –> 00:04:13,339that’s us, that’s us, that’s us.5700:04:13,339 –> 00:04:17,940And then finally they come to chapter 40, and they find that the scripture is speaking5800:04:17,940 –> 00:04:23,399to them directly a word of hope, and that what is needed for these exiles is that they5900:04:23,399 –> 00:04:28,640are to be comforted, and that those who are spiritual leaders are to speak comforting6000:04:28,640 –> 00:04:33,779words to the people of God in these dire circumstances.6100:04:33,820 –> 00:04:40,200And so here’s what God is saying through Isaiah for a godly people, generations in the future,6200:04:40,200 –> 00:04:46,940they are to comfort God’s people, they are to speak comfortably, they are to speak tenderly6300:04:46,940 –> 00:04:49,320to Jerusalem.6400:04:49,320 –> 00:04:53,940So these are directions then that are given to those who would later speak the word of6500:04:53,940 –> 00:04:58,799God in times of great difficulty, and it follows of course, that they are therefore directions6600:04:58,799 –> 00:04:59,799for us.6700:04:59,820 –> 00:05:07,299They lay out how we are to speak the word of God to other people who are in captivity,6800:05:07,299 –> 00:05:09,359who are facing great difficulty.6900:05:09,359 –> 00:05:12,179How are we to bear witness to Jesus Christ?7000:05:12,179 –> 00:05:16,959So here we are, we’re coming into the Christmas season and there will be opportunities for7100:05:16,959 –> 00:05:26,760you to interact with neighbours and family members and friends and colleagues and conversations7200:05:26,760 –> 00:05:30,600that do not happen at other times of the year are going to open up.7300:05:30,600 –> 00:05:34,519And as a Christian believer, if you are a Christian today, you are going to have the7400:05:34,519 –> 00:05:38,720opportunity of speaking into the lives of other people.7500:05:38,720 –> 00:05:44,040And the great question is in a world in which people are facing many pressures, many difficulties,7600:05:44,040 –> 00:05:51,320many have ceased to believe, how are we as Christian believers to speak?7700:05:51,320 –> 00:05:53,640That’s what’s before us here today.7800:05:53,640 –> 00:05:56,600I want really to have two stopping points.7900:05:56,920 –> 00:05:58,679The first is simply the messenger.8000:05:58,679 –> 00:06:03,600And we’re going to draw here a number of very important things about how we, as believers,8100:06:03,600 –> 00:06:04,959are to speak for God.8200:06:04,959 –> 00:06:06,679That’s the messengers.8300:06:06,679 –> 00:06:11,559And then secondly, we’re going to look at the message, what it is that we have received8400:06:11,559 –> 00:06:15,359from God that takes us to the heart of the Christmas story.8500:06:15,359 –> 00:06:18,320So these two things today.8600:06:18,320 –> 00:06:24,100First of all then, the messenger, how we are to speak for God.8700:06:24,440 –> 00:06:30,559Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.8800:06:30,579 –> 00:06:37,980Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her.8900:06:37,980 –> 00:06:44,299Now, here’s God speaking to his own people and he’s telling us how we are to minister9000:06:44,299 –> 00:06:46,540to others.9100:06:46,540 –> 00:06:53,899How, as a Godly father or a Godly mother are you to speak about God in your own home?9200:06:53,899 –> 00:07:00,660How as a life group leader or a bible study leader or a person simply as a Christian who9300:07:00,660 –> 00:07:05,739has the opportunity to witness, how are you to speak for God?9400:07:05,739 –> 00:07:10,220Let me suggest these things, that just come very obviously from the word of God that’s9500:07:10,220 –> 00:07:14,019in front of us here today.9600:07:14,019 –> 00:07:20,959First of all, speak from the heart and speak to the heart.9700:07:20,959 –> 00:07:27,980This is how God says, comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem.9800:07:27,980 –> 00:07:32,320Let’s take that in as we prepare ourselves for Christmas and all the opportunities of9900:07:32,320 –> 00:07:34,279ministry that involves.10000:07:34,279 –> 00:07:40,339Speak tenderly or to translate that word another way, speak lovingly.10100:07:40,339 –> 00:07:48,519Literally translated that phrase means, speak to the heart, and so this is God himself speaking10200:07:48,980 –> 00:07:55,079to our own folks who are to minister, and he says now, speak from the heart, and speak10300:07:55,079 –> 00:07:57,359to the heart.10400:07:57,359 –> 00:08:03,600When we speak in the name of the Lord, we are speaking in the name of the God who loves,10500:08:03,600 –> 00:08:08,920and we are wanting to press into the minds and hearts of people who are deeply suspicious10600:08:08,920 –> 00:08:14,380of him, that there is a great and an eternal and a divine love that beats in the heart10700:08:14,380 –> 00:08:17,920of God that reaches out to them.10800:08:18,059 –> 00:08:22,799Then we always remember that we are living in a time when many people are convinced that10900:08:22,799 –> 00:08:28,779if God exists at all, he must somehow be against them, that if God really exists, that his11000:08:28,779 –> 00:08:33,979main purpose is to kill all pleasure and joy, that he imposes impossible demands, and all11100:08:33,979 –> 00:08:39,780the rest of it, and because people are convinced that God has his fist towards them, they therefore11200:08:39,780 –> 00:08:43,979respond with their fist towards God.11300:08:43,979 –> 00:08:52,359This is the conviction of a lost person, the sense that God is to be resisted at all costs,11400:08:52,359 –> 00:08:56,419and that no good could ever come from getting near to him.11500:08:56,419 –> 00:08:59,820And alongside that put the experience of a lost person.11600:08:59,820 –> 00:09:06,099Notice verse two refers to her warfare, there’s an unrelenting battle.11700:09:06,580 –> 00:09:09,859There is a constant conflict11800:09:09,859 –> 00:09:17,739that runs in the heart of every person who is resistant to the claims of Jesus Christ of God upon their life.11900:09:17,739 –> 00:09:25,460Remember this, every person you meet, every person you ever speak to is in a battle.12000:09:25,460 –> 00:09:31,280Think about the position of these exiles, they’re far from the promised land.12100:09:31,280 –> 00:09:37,159After seventy years, a huge number of them have never even seen the promised land.12200:09:37,159 –> 00:09:43,400Everything that God speaks about and everything that God has promised seems to be at a great distance from them.12300:09:43,400 –> 00:09:46,979All they have ever known is this captivity in babylon.12400:09:46,979 –> 00:09:52,979That’s a kind of picture of the people who are around us in this world today.12500:09:53,039 –> 00:10:02,179And remember this, that when Jesus sees people in their natural position of alienation from God.12600:10:02,179 –> 00:10:04,299Remember what the Gospels tells us.12700:10:04,299 –> 00:10:09,260Jesus looked at them and he had compassion.12800:10:09,260 –> 00:10:11,659He had pity.12900:10:11,659 –> 00:10:15,080He felt sorry for people.13000:10:15,080 –> 00:10:20,260Because they were like sheep without a shepherd.13100:10:20,700 –> 00:10:24,700Now, if we’re to be really useful to the Lord folks, we have to have that kind of compassion.13200:10:24,700 –> 00:10:31,940Let me read to you a comment that was very striking to me from Martyn Lloyd-Jones.13300:10:31,940 –> 00:10:38,679And all the more striking because he said these words in 1954, 68 years ago.13400:10:38,679 –> 00:10:42,000When I read them to you you’ll say, Really, that was true 60 years ago?13500:10:42,000 –> 00:10:43,739Well the world never changes.13600:10:43,739 –> 00:10:45,840Here’s what Lloyd-Jones said.13700:10:45,859 –> 00:10:56,780Quote, I do not agree with those who think that the modern craze for pleasure and entertainment13800:10:56,780 –> 00:10:58,059is to be denounced.13900:10:58,059 –> 00:10:59,460Isn’t that interesting?14000:10:59,460 –> 00:11:06,460The modern craze for pleasure and entertainment apparently was going very strong in 1954.14100:11:06,460 –> 00:11:11,039So the world doesn’t change as much as we sometimes think that it does.14200:11:11,059 –> 00:11:17,099And Lloyd-Jones says, I do not agree with those who say that the modern craze for pleasure14300:11:17,099 –> 00:11:18,820and entertainment is to be denounced.14400:11:18,820 –> 00:11:22,099He says, it’s not the business of the church to be standing up and condemning all the ways14500:11:22,099 –> 00:11:23,419in which people are living.14600:11:23,419 –> 00:11:24,520That’s not what we’re here for.14700:11:24,520 –> 00:11:25,900I don’t agree with that, he says.14800:11:25,900 –> 00:11:28,559And he goes on to explain why.14900:11:28,559 –> 00:11:35,780He says people are living on pleasure in order to get out of this terrible struggle if they15000:11:35,780 –> 00:11:38,299can, just for an hour or two.15100:11:38,760 –> 00:11:41,520They act as they do because life has defeated them.15200:11:41,520 –> 00:11:43,119It has gotten them down.15300:11:43,119 –> 00:11:47,460They cannot spend an evening at home happily with their own thoughts.15400:11:47,460 –> 00:11:52,159And Lloyd-Jones says, I can understand them.15500:11:52,159 –> 00:11:58,159They find this boredom unutterable and insupportable.15600:11:58,159 –> 00:12:04,840They have nothing to rest on within themselves, and so they must have some pleasure outside15700:12:04,840 –> 00:12:06,099of themselves.15800:12:06,219 –> 00:12:09,200It is, he says, a constant warfare.15900:12:10,940 –> 00:12:17,260Now it is very good for Christian people to get off the self-righteous hobby horses that16000:12:17,280 –> 00:12:24,159sometimes we can be duped into riding, and to actually try and put ourselves in the position16100:12:24,159 –> 00:12:29,119of what it actually means to be lost, to be alienated from God, to be under the power16200:12:29,119 –> 00:12:31,260of sin.16300:12:31,380 –> 00:12:38,460When you start taking that seriously, and you begin to have compassion, you begin instead16400:12:38,460 –> 00:12:41,979of condemning people, to start feeling sorry for people.16500:12:41,979 –> 00:12:49,619You begin to experience the divine pity or another word for that is merci, and you begin16600:12:49,619 –> 00:12:55,000to be in a position, instead of talking down to people, to be in a position of being able16700:12:55,000 –> 00:12:56,859to speak tenderly.16800:12:56,859 –> 00:12:58,739That’s the word that God uses.16900:12:58,739 –> 00:13:06,260Speak lovingly, speak tenderly, speak with compassion, speak from the heart and speak17000:13:06,260 –> 00:13:08,739to the heart.17100:13:08,739 –> 00:13:12,640Do you feel sorry for the person who’s on drugs?17200:13:12,640 –> 00:13:18,359Do you feel sorry, do you feel pity for the person who’s moving from one partner to another,17300:13:18,359 –> 00:13:23,520one experience to another, do you feel sorry for the person who’s caught up in the world17400:13:23,520 –> 00:13:27,719of money and the pursuit of it and everything that can be gained by it?17500:13:27,719 –> 00:13:30,000Speak tenderly.17600:13:30,000 –> 00:13:36,739Try to display the love of God that reaches into this broken world in Jesus Christ.17700:13:36,739 –> 00:13:43,760People who are tired of the battle do not need your condemnation or mine.17800:13:43,760 –> 00:13:47,280What they need is to hear a word of hope.17900:13:47,280 –> 00:13:51,840So how are we to speak for God, speak tenderly, speak from the heart, speak to the heart.18000:13:52,840 –> 00:13:56,919We’ve got to pause the message briefly there, but we’ll be back again shortly.18100:13:56,919 –> 00:14:01,640You’re listening to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called The Glory18200:14:01,640 –> 00:14:07,659of the Lord, a part of our series from Isaiah chapter 40 called Waiting for The Lord.18300:14:07,659 –> 00:14:11,719If you ever miss one of our programs, it’s very easy to catch up or go back and listen18400:14:11,719 –> 00:14:16,679again online at our website, www.openthebible.org.uk.18500:14:16,679 –> 00:14:21,799Or you can also find pastor Colin’s messages as a podcast on all the main podcasts18600:14:21,799 –> 00:14:22,799websites.18700:14:22,799 –> 00:14:28,039Search for Open The Bible UK or follow the link from our website.18800:14:28,039 –> 00:14:29,479Back to the message again.18900:14:29,479 –> 00:14:30,760Here again is Colin.19000:14:30,760 –> 00:14:32,679So how are we to speak for God?19100:14:32,679 –> 00:14:37,520Speak tenderly, speak from the heart, speak to the heart.19200:14:37,520 –> 00:14:45,919Second, remember as you bear witness to Jesus Christ that you are only a voice, you are19300:14:45,919 –> 00:14:47,760only a voice.19400:14:47,900 –> 00:14:54,260Look at verse three, a voice cries, whose voice?19500:14:54,260 –> 00:14:56,960We’re not told.19600:14:56,960 –> 00:15:01,000In one sense it doesn’t really matter because what is being said is important rather than19700:15:01,000 –> 00:15:03,739the person who’s saying it.19800:15:03,739 –> 00:15:08,659There’s a voice, but there’s no name.19900:15:08,659 –> 00:15:10,520And you have the same thing in verse six.20000:15:10,520 –> 00:15:14,039Do you say that again, a voice says cry, which voice?20100:15:14,039 –> 00:15:16,479We’re not told, it doesn’t matter.20200:15:17,200 –> 00:15:21,979Verse nine, go up to a high mountain lift up your voice with strength.20300:15:21,979 –> 00:15:27,080All these kind of disembodied voices, very strange voices everywhere in this passage20400:15:27,080 –> 00:15:29,539of Scripture.20500:15:29,539 –> 00:15:33,599Now of course we know from the New Testament that the voice that was crying out in the20600:15:33,599 –> 00:15:38,799wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, that that was wonderfully fulfilled in John the20700:15:38,799 –> 00:15:40,520Baptist.20800:15:40,520 –> 00:15:44,960And it’s very fascinating when you read about John the Baptist, its story is in all four20900:15:44,960 –> 00:15:45,960gospels.21000:15:46,719 –> 00:15:52,900People wanted to know about who he was, and John’s gospel particularly picks this up.21100:15:52,900 –> 00:15:58,059You can read in John chapter one and verse 22 that people are sent to John and their21200:15:58,059 –> 00:16:01,659question is who are you?21300:16:01,659 –> 00:16:05,460What do you say about yourself?21400:16:05,460 –> 00:16:07,580And John gives this extraordinary answer.21500:16:07,580 –> 00:16:13,020He says, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.21600:16:13,020 –> 00:16:18,859He’s quoting of course from Isaiah, make straight the way of the Lord as the Prophet of Isaiah said.21700:16:19,659 –> 00:16:21,700They said the world never changes.21800:16:21,700 –> 00:16:24,080Here’s John and he’s a little bit different.21900:16:24,080 –> 00:16:30,599You know, he’s got the camel hair and a clothing, and he’s eating the locusts and the honey,22000:16:30,599 –> 00:16:33,960and everyone wants to know about John, John’s personality.22100:16:33,960 –> 00:16:35,559Now who is John?22200:16:35,559 –> 00:16:38,479And what does John have to say about himself?22300:16:38,479 –> 00:16:40,960And John says, well here’s the only thing you need to know about me.22400:16:41,000 –> 00:16:43,559I’m a voice.22500:16:43,559 –> 00:16:47,539In other words, it’s not me that matters.22600:16:47,539 –> 00:16:51,039What matters is what I’m saying, because what I’m saying is the word of God.22700:16:51,039 –> 00:16:53,979You can check it out for yourself in the prophet Isaiah.22800:16:53,979 –> 00:16:57,380That’s exactly what he says to these folks who ask him.22900:16:57,380 –> 00:16:59,080I’m speaking the word of God.23000:16:59,080 –> 00:17:03,200What matters is not what I say about myself, or who I am.23100:17:03,200 –> 00:17:06,739What matters is what I say about Jesus Christ, and who he is.23200:17:06,739 –> 00:17:08,060That’s what really matters.23300:17:08,239 –> 00:17:12,680What matters is what the scripture says, not the personality of the person who may speak23400:17:12,680 –> 00:17:14,079it to you.23500:17:14,079 –> 00:17:17,660There’s a lovely verse of a hymn that’s…23600:17:17,660 –> 00:17:24,459I come back to it again and again, and it’s so helpful.23700:17:24,459 –> 00:17:37,020May your beauty rest upon me as I seek the lost to win, and may they forget the channel23800:17:37,020 –> 00:17:42,739channel, seeing only him.23900:17:42,739 –> 00:17:48,540Do you feel that ministry has to have your name on it?24000:17:48,540 –> 00:17:54,900You haven’t understood what it is to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ very well.24100:17:54,900 –> 00:18:00,400This folks is of huge importance in our celebrity culture where people always want to know who24200:18:00,400 –> 00:18:03,619you are and what you’re going to say about yourself.24300:18:03,619 –> 00:18:05,859Remember this, you’re only a voice.24400:18:06,699 –> 00:18:09,680The name doesn’t matter.24500:18:09,680 –> 00:18:17,979What matters is not who we are, but it is the message that we bear.24600:18:17,979 –> 00:18:21,260So how are we to speak well for the Lord?24700:18:21,260 –> 00:18:22,780How are we to bear witness well?24800:18:22,780 –> 00:18:23,959Well, you’ve got to speak from the heart.24900:18:23,959 –> 00:18:25,819You’ve got to speak to the heart.25000:18:25,819 –> 00:18:33,780You remember that you’re only a voice, the big deal is his name, not your name.25100:18:33,900 –> 00:18:38,099And may they forget the channel, seeing only him.25200:18:38,099 –> 00:18:41,819We’re to be channels of God’s mercy, it’s not about us.25300:18:41,819 –> 00:18:44,540Third, you want to serve God?25400:18:44,540 –> 00:18:47,359Well, listen what God says in scripture.25500:18:47,359 –> 00:18:54,040Look at this, comfort, comfort, my people, says your God.25600:18:54,040 –> 00:19:00,699If we are to be useful in speaking into the lives of others, we need to have minds and25700:19:00,839 –> 00:19:05,839hearts that are well saturated in what God himself actually says.25800:19:05,839 –> 00:19:14,020In other words, your ministry, your usefulness to God will be an overflow of your own walk25900:19:14,020 –> 00:19:17,000with God in his word.26000:19:17,000 –> 00:19:20,939You cannot give to others what you have not received yourself.26100:19:20,939 –> 00:19:26,719And the word of God has to come with power to you, before it can come with power through26200:19:26,719 –> 00:19:27,959you.26300:19:27,959 –> 00:19:33,800It must be in you, in order that it can come from you.26400:19:33,800 –> 00:19:36,280Paul speaks about this, it happens in all kinds of ways.26500:19:36,280 –> 00:19:42,599Do you remember in 2Corinthians Chapter 1, he says now, God has comforted us, so that26600:19:42,599 –> 00:19:48,199we may be able to comfort others with the comfort with which he has first comforted26700:19:48,199 –> 00:19:49,199us.26800:19:49,199 –> 00:19:54,660In other words, the reality of an experience of the grace of God and of the truth of God26900:19:54,660 –> 00:20:01,300has become earthed in Paul’s own experience so that out of this he is able to minister27000:20:01,300 –> 00:20:04,540effectively to others.27100:20:04,540 –> 00:20:10,979So here is a great incentive for being in the word of God.27200:20:10,979 –> 00:20:15,859You want to grow in your walk with God, not only for his glory, not only for your own27300:20:15,859 –> 00:20:19,260good, but also for the good of others.27400:20:19,459 –> 00:20:28,099What is the point of being a Christian whose own experience is so shallow or so far in27500:20:28,099 –> 00:20:34,839the past that you really have nothing that is fresh that is coming to you from God that27600:20:34,839 –> 00:20:37,040you would be able to share with other people?27700:20:37,040 –> 00:20:45,199The great Christian writer said many years ago, beware of living on the stale bread of27800:20:45,199 –> 00:20:49,099your past experience of God.27900:20:49,180 –> 00:20:53,500How much use do you think you are going to be this Christmas as a Christian believer28000:20:53,500 –> 00:20:59,239with unbelieving people around you if all that you are doing is living on a past experience28100:20:59,239 –> 00:21:04,280and there is no living way in which the Word of God is really filtering into your life28200:21:04,280 –> 00:21:06,839and nourishing your soul?28300:21:06,839 –> 00:21:13,640You want to be useful, be in the place where you are listening to what God says in scripture28400:23:14,400 –> 00:23:17,520Colin, where did the idea for this book come from?28500:23:17,520 –> 00:23:23,180Well that goes back a long way, actually fifty years to a conference I attended in the UK28600:23:23,180 –> 00:23:29,239and at lunchtime I just happened to sit next to a man who had given his life to serving28700:23:29,239 –> 00:23:34,640as a pioneer missionary to an unreached tribal group in northern Thailand.28800:23:34,640 –> 00:23:37,979His story was absolutely fascinating.28900:23:37,979 –> 00:23:43,439He told me how he had met the tribal chief, how he built his own home, having been invited29000:23:43,540 –> 00:23:45,699to live among these people, learned their language.29100:23:45,699 –> 00:23:51,319I mean I’m listening to his story, it was amazing and then I asked him over lunch,29200:23:51,319 –> 00:23:57,199Toni, I said, where in the world would you begin in explaining the Gospel to people29300:23:57,199 –> 00:24:00,579who don’t even know who God is?29400:24:00,579 –> 00:24:04,339And he said, we tell them the Bible story.29500:24:04,339 –> 00:24:09,880And that really started me on a journey that’s gone over many, many years because God has29600:24:10,160 –> 00:24:16,880introduced his Son to us through an unfolding story that begins in Genesis and it ends in29700:24:16,880 –> 00:24:18,140Revelation.29800:24:18,140 –> 00:24:23,920And actually if we follow the contours of the Bible story, we have the best possible29900:24:23,920 –> 00:24:30,060introduction to understanding who Jesus is, why we need him, what he’s able to accomplish,30000:24:30,060 –> 00:24:31,859what he’s done for us.30100:24:31,859 –> 00:24:37,219And so, a hike through the Bible is very simply an introduction to the whole of the Bible30200:24:37,219 –> 00:24:38,219story.30300:24:38,219 –> 00:24:42,800So it’s all pointing towards the Lord Jesus Christ and I hope that it’s going to be helpful30400:24:42,800 –> 00:24:45,020and encouraging for many, many people.30500:24:45,020 –> 00:24:50,319Well, we’d love to send you Colin’s new book when you set up a new direct debit of five30600:24:50,319 –> 00:24:56,119pounds per month or more or a one-off gift of fifty pounds or more this month.30700:24:56,119 –> 00:25:04,260Full terms and conditions online at our website openthebible.org. UK and you can give online.30800:25:04,260 –> 00:25:07,859Don’t forget to leave your name and address so we can send you your gift.30900:25:08,900 –> 00:25:13,780For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith I’m David Pik and I look forward to being31000:25:13,780 –> 00:25:15,459with you again next time.31100:25:21,660 –> 00:25:25,819God calls His people to speak tenderly into our broken world.31200:25:26,219 –> 00:25:29,739Find out what to say next time on Open the Bible.