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If you’d notice in this sermon,

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paganism would say my goodness, the earth’s splitting.

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He’s on a cross.

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The sun stopped shining.

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The gods musn’t be pleased with him,

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that’s what a pagan would say.

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But the gospel tells us that it is through this

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agony of trouble that God feels

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his redeeming purpose.

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Welcome to open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.

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I’m David Pick and Colin today,

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we begin a new series called

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close encounters with the living God.

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Yeah and it’s from the book of Micah

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that speaks very powerfully to us today

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because it was written during the years of Ahas

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that were about as dark a time in the history

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of God’s people as ever there was.

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But also it was written during the time of Hezekiah

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that was a time of great revival.

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So what we’ve got in this one prophecy of Micah

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is the story of the nation at its worst

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and a work of God that turned it around.

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And so that’s why we’re beginning

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with this great theme of revival

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because the book charts a work of God,

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a close encounter with a living God

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that actually changed the face of national life

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among God’s people in Old Testament Israel.

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So it speaks powerfully to the need of our time today

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and it’s full of hope.

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So join us, if you can, in your Bibles

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to the book of Micah near the end of the Old Testament

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as we begin the message,

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The God Who Brings Revival.

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Here’s Colin.

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September 11th.

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There’s a certain chill almost in saying the date,

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isn’t there?

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We all remember where we were when we heard the news,

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the image of crumbling towers imprinted

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on all of our minds forever.

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The very date as Roosevelt said after Pearl Harbor,

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a date that lives in infamy.

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And ever since, we’ve lived with the knowledge

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that there are people who are determined

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to destroy our way of life

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and they’ll give their lives to do it.

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We live in a dangerous world

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and now we are overtaken by a new disaster.

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A friend of mine told me this week

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about a report that he had read back in the 1980s

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that had identified three events

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that could cripple America.

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A major earthquake on the San Andreas fault.

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A major terrorist attack on a main city.

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Or a tidal wave in the Gulf.

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It is extraordinary that two out of these three

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have happened inside four years.

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I guess like everyone else here,

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I’m still struggling to get my mind

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around the sheer scale of the devastation

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in New Orleans, the volume of water,

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the number of people, the massive scale of loss.

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Sunday morning after September the 11th,

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four years ago I spoke from the book of Hebrews chapter 12

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where God says that everything in this world

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will be shaken and reminds us

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that nothing in this life is completely secure,

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your home, your family, your health, your job.

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So what we need is a faith that is big enough for life.

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That’s the desperate need for us here and now

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at the beginning of the 21st century

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we desperately need a faith that is big enough for life

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as we are experiencing it.

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Now, I’m convinced from the very depth of my being

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that what that means is a return to biblical Christianity.

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And I want to try and explain

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as we come to the scriptures this morning,

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what that means because there has been such a massive slide

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away from this in our time.

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I want us to grasp clearly the difference

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between Christianity and Paganism.

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And by Paganism, I’m using that word to refer

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to really any form of idolatry

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that you would find both throughout the Old Testament

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and widely in our culture today.

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Pagan religion.

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Pagan religion is based on the idea

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that the gods will keep you from harm

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so long as you keep them happy.

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That’s Paganism.

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So a wise pagan thinks like this.

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He or she will say, now I’ve got to say my prayers.

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I’ve got to give my tithes.

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I’ve got to offer my sacrifices

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because as long as the gods are happy,

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the gods will keep me from harm.

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So the pagan thinks like this.

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If I keep the gods happy,

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then my family will be healthy.

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Then my business will prosper.

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Then my kids will make wise choices.

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Then my country will be secure.

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That’s Paganism.

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It is a religion that you practice

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so that nothing terrible will happen to you.

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Now, Christianity is completely different

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because the Bible makes it as plain as can be

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for anyone who reads it that in this world,

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bad things will happen to me and to you.

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The reason for this is simple.

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We live in a fallen world.

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We are surrounded by an environment

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in which evil is rampant within the human heart.

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The human race itself is plagued by disease and by death.

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And the Bible says the whole creation in which we live

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is groaning under a curse,

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a curse that has not yet been removed.

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So for all our blessings,

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the Bible makes it clear

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that our life in this world

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will include the experience of loss,

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and that loss will come through disease,

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it will come through death,

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it will come through disaster,

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and it will come through destruction

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that arises from men and women

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whose hearts have been opened up

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to rampant powers of evil and the demonic.

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Jesus speaks clearly about wars and rumors of wars,

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about famines and about earthquakes.

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This is your world, He says to those who are listening.

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This is the reality in which you live your life.

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This will be part of your experience.

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And this is precisely why you need me.

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So you see, in this world we need a God who is big enough

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to fulfill His purpose even when everything else is lost.

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Now, do you see the huge contrast between these two things?

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Paganism says the gods, as long as they’re happy,

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keep the gods happy and they’ll keep you from trouble.

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That’s paganism.

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Christianity says that God will fulfill His purpose

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even through trouble which you ought to expect

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in this world.

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Now, what has struck me as I’ve pondered this

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over these last days is just how widely

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believers in our time have really bought into

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a Christianized form of paganism.

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In other words, we have the idea

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that if we’re good Christians,

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nothing bad will happen in our lives.

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That if our country is based on Christian principles,

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that no disaster will happen here.

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That kind of thinking shows how far we have drifted

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from Christianity into a kind of cross-shaped paganism.

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This kind of superstition is so far

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from the world of the Bible.

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Think about the Bible.

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Job was the most righteous man of his day,

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the Bible says so.

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And he experienced, think about this,

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a terrorist attack and a natural disaster

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on the same day.

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The Bible tells us, the Sabeans came

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and murdered his servants and his animals,

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that’s a terrorist attack.

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And then a hurricane came and flattened the house

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where all of his children were at that time

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throwing a party, that’s a natural disaster.

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And it happened to the most righteous man

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in the Old Testament.

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So, you see, the Bible never suggests

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that if you keep God happy,

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nothing bad will happen to you.

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No, the real world of the Bible

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is that we live in a fallen world

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in which there is disease, and there is danger,

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and there is death, and these things

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will shape the experience of the most righteous man.

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And you never see it more clearly

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than in the life of Jesus.

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No one ever lived a life more pleasing to God.

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And yet, Jesus, more than any other,

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experienced terror unleashed.

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And when he’s stretched out on the cross,

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the earth splits beneath him as the sun no longer shines.

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Now you see, paganism would say,

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my goodness, the earth’s splitting,

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he’s on a cross, the sun stops shining,

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the gods mustn’t be pleased with him,

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that’s what a pagan would say.

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But the Gospel tells us

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that it is through this agony of trouble

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that God fulfills his redeeming purpose.

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You see these are two completely different worlds.

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So it seems to me that the desperate need of the hour

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is that we be delivered from a superstitious Christianity

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in which we see our religion as a way of keeping God happy

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so there won’t be any trouble in our lives,

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and that we return to a biblical Christianity

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in which we put our trust in God

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knowing that there will be trouble in our lives,

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but that God will bring us through it,

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and that even by it and in it,

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he will fulfill his purpose, and it will not be lost.

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The God of the Bible is big enough for life.

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Superstition isn’t, paganism isn’t,

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but the God of the Bible can bring you

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through the worst experience of loss

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that you or I will ever face.

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He’s able to do the Bible says more for you,

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in you and through you than you can ask or think,

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and my prayer for this series throughout the fall

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is that we will have a close encounter

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with this living God.

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You’re listening to Open the Bible

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with Pastor Colin Smith,

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and the message today, the God who brings revival.

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It’s part of our series,

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close encounters with the living God,

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and if you miss any of the series,

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don’t forget you can always catch up

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or go back and listen again online

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at our website OpenTheBible.org.uk.

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You can also find our messages as podcasts,

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if that’s a better way for you to keep up

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with Pastor Colin’s teaching,

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and those are available

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on all the regular podcasting sites.

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You can search for Open the Bible UK

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and subscribe to receive regular updates.

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On our website,

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you can also find a number of other resources

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including Open the Bible Daily,

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which is a series of short

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two to three minute reflections

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based on Pastor Colin’s teaching

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and read in the UK by Sue MacLeish.

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Back to the message now,

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we’re in the book of Micah.

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Here’s Colin.

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Let’s turn to the book of Micah shall we?

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And I promised we’ll up the pace after today

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but today just verse one.

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Micah Chapter 1 and verse 1 just this one verse

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and then we’re going to look to some other scriptures

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that we’ll read in a few moments time.

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But let us hear then the word of God.

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Micah Chapter 1 and verse 1.

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The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth

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during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah,

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kings of Judah.

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The vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

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Now just to get ourselves quickly oriented that means

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that this man’s ministry spanned about a period of 50 years,

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somewhere around 750 to 700 BC.

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Micah lived and preached at the same time

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as the prophet Isaiah.

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Now during this time Israel was divided into two.

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The Northern Kingdom was called Samaria,

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referred to here,

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and the Southern Kingdom had its capital in Jerusalem.

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The major event in Micah’s lifetime

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was the fall of the Northern Kingdom.

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That happened in 722 BC.

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The Assyrians invaded Samaria,

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the northern part,

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and they removed the entire population.

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The people of the ten tribes in the north were scattered.

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Samaria was left like a desolate wasteland

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and the Assyrians then later brought in foreign refugees

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who became known as the Samaritans.

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Now, Micah’s focus was on the south,

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and he spoke the word of God

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during the reign we’re told here of three kings,

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Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah.

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Now, you can forget about Jotham.

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Jotham was a believer with a good heart

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but without the courage to do

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what needed to be done in the country.

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He didn’t have the courage

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to follow through on his convictions.

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He loved the Lord, but he let the idols stand.

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He reigned for 16 years,

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and the sum total of his life

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was it didn’t really make much difference

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in the country at all,

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and that’s sad,

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because there are a lot of people like that,

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neither hot nor cold,

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believing but compromised,

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holding faith but lacking conviction,

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drifting through life,

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and going out with things around them

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or in them pretty similar

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to what they were at the beginning.

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So that’s Jotham.

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Now Ahaz and Hezekiah are an entirely different matter.

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So let’s turn to second Kings

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if you would please,

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Second Kings chapter 16,

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and we’re going to read from this chapter

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And then a little later from second Kings chapter 18.

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And this will give us the setting

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in which Micah was bringing the word of God.

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Second Kings chapter 16,

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Micah started during the rather nondescript

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and eminently forgettable days of Jotham,

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but he continued preaching the word of God

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during the time of Ahaz.

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And second Kings 16 will tell us

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what these days were like.

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Again, let us hear the word of God.

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To Kings 16,

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in the 17th year of Micah, son of Remaliah,

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Ahaz, the son of Jotham, King of Judah, began to reign.

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Ahaz was 20 years old when he became king

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and he reigned in Jerusalem for 16 years.

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Unlike David his father,

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he did not do what was right

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in the eyes of the Lord his God.

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He walked in the ways of the Kings of Israel

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and even sacrificed his son in the fire

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following the detestable ways of the nations

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the Lord had driven out before the Israelites.

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He offered sacrifices and burned incense

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at the high places, on the hilltops

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and under every spreading tree.

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Now, if you read the rest of the chapter,

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you will find that the pattern is the same

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and that what happened was that for 16 years,

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00:16:32,979 –> 00:16:37,599

Ahaz presided over a national moral disaster.

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That’s what it was.

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Verse six makes it clear that he lost territory.

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The chapter makes it clear that he drained the economy.

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He formed an alliance with the Assyrians.

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Feeling under threat, and because of this he paid money.

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00:16:55,299 –> 00:16:56,739

He was basically paying off

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00:16:56,739 –> 00:17:00,280

what was virtually a bribery for peace.

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00:17:00,659 –> 00:17:03,219

He paid that off, and he drained the economy.

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00:17:04,459 –> 00:17:08,040

Worst of all, he introduced God’s people to other gods.

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He made idols.

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He’s going back to superstition

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and away from the world of the Bible.

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He made idols of Baal.

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He made idols of Moloch,

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00:17:18,479 –> 00:17:22,239

a particularly detestable Canaanite god

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whose right included the occasional sacrifice

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00:17:26,359 –> 00:17:28,000

of a live child in the fire.

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00:17:28,000 –> 00:17:28,839

Unbelievable.

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00:17:30,880 –> 00:17:34,260

And Ahaz led this way with his own son.

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It’s hard to imagine the depth of demonic darkness

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00:17:41,180 –> 00:17:45,339

that swept through the nation in Ahaz’s 16 years,

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00:17:47,099 –> 00:17:48,079

but it happened.

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00:17:50,219 –> 00:17:52,640

Professor Walter Kaiser gives us a sense

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of what was going on here,

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and I think it shows how it speaks to us.

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Let me read these words from him.

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He says, the unbridled licentiousness

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00:18:02,000 –> 00:18:04,479

that accompanied much of Canaanite worship

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00:18:04,479 –> 00:18:06,040

of Baal and his concerts,

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this is what Ahaz brought back in,

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is well-documented.

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00:18:10,319 –> 00:18:12,739

He says, my doctoral dissertation

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00:18:12,739 –> 00:18:15,180

was on the Ugaritic pantheon.

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00:18:16,180 –> 00:18:18,719

Poor man, can you imagine doing

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00:18:18,719 –> 00:18:21,500

a doctoral dissertation on the Ugaritic,

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00:18:21,500 –> 00:18:23,079

but, anyway, that’s what it was.

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00:18:23,079 –> 00:18:25,040

And here’s what he says,

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and I can testify that modern pornography

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00:18:29,119 –> 00:18:31,540

seldom exceeds the debauchery

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00:18:31,540 –> 00:18:33,760

to which these gods and goddesses

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00:18:33,760 –> 00:18:37,239

and their devotees gave themselves.

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00:18:39,160 –> 00:18:42,119

So, you see, this sweeps right into our world,

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and if you think it’s inconceivable

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00:18:46,079 –> 00:18:48,319

for a king to sacrifice his son in the fire,

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00:18:48,319 –> 00:18:50,339

just take a few moments to ponder

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00:18:50,339 –> 00:18:55,160

one million abortions every year in this country,

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00:18:57,420 –> 00:19:01,420

a national moral disaster.

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00:19:04,180 –> 00:19:06,119

Ahaz was about as bad as it gets.

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00:19:09,800 –> 00:19:11,680

By the way, we often hear folks today saying,

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00:19:11,680 –> 00:19:13,459

it doesn’t matter which god you worship,

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00:19:13,459 –> 00:19:14,939

just so long as you’re sincere.

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00:19:14,939 –> 00:19:16,660

Don’t ever believe that.

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00:19:17,380 –> 00:19:22,380

The god you worship will shape the person you become.

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00:19:26,619 –> 00:19:29,199

And a nation that changes its gods

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00:19:29,199 –> 00:19:32,540

changes its whole character.

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00:19:36,920 –> 00:19:40,160

Now, if you and I had lived through the time of Ahaz

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00:19:40,160 –> 00:19:44,979

and frankly there are aspects of life in our loved lands

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00:19:45,000 –> 00:19:48,160

that make us feel we’re seeing shades of it today, surely.

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00:19:48,160 –> 00:19:50,160

I mean this does speak to us doesn’t it?

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00:19:52,579 –> 00:19:54,839

You would probably have felt that the whole nation

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00:19:54,839 –> 00:19:59,359

was plunging to a disaster from which it could never recover

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00:19:59,359 –> 00:20:02,079

that things had so changed that there was no hope

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00:20:02,079 –> 00:20:04,520

of returning to the God of the Bible again.

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00:20:05,420 –> 00:20:07,040

Well then, here’s the good news.

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00:20:08,300 –> 00:20:13,300

When Ahaz died, his son Hezekiah came to the throne.

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00:20:15,119 –> 00:20:17,939

And I’d like you to turn with me to 2 Kings chapter 18,

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00:20:17,939 –> 00:20:19,400

just over a couple of pages,

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00:20:19,400 –> 00:20:20,619

cause we’re following the story.

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00:20:20,619 –> 00:20:23,239

Remember that Micah preached during the time

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00:20:23,239 –> 00:20:26,599

of Ahaz and during the time of Hezekiah

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00:20:26,599 –> 00:20:31,160

so he spanned both of these experiences in national life.

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00:20:31,160 –> 00:20:34,239

So let’s look at what it was like in the time of Hezekiah.

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00:20:34,239 –> 00:20:38,300

2 Kings chapter 18 and we read from verse one.

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00:20:39,680 –> 00:20:42,839

In the third year of Hoshea, the son of Elah,

408

00:20:42,839 –> 00:20:47,380

king of Israel, Hezekiah the son of Ahaz,

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00:20:47,380 –> 00:20:48,199

king of Judah,

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00:20:48,199 –> 00:20:50,099

began to reign.

411

00:20:50,099 –> 00:20:52,819

He was 25 years old when he became king

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00:20:52,819 –> 00:20:56,099

and he reigned in Jerusalem 29 years.

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00:20:56,099 –> 00:20:58,699

His mother’s name was Abijah,

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00:20:58,699 –> 00:21:02,140

daughter of Zechariah and he did what was right

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00:21:02,140 –> 00:21:07,140

in the eyes of the lord just as his father David had done.

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00:21:08,339 –> 00:21:10,739

He removed the high places,

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00:21:10,780 –> 00:21:13,359

smashed the sacred stones,

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00:21:13,359 –> 00:21:15,500

cut down the Asherah poles,

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00:21:15,500 –> 00:21:19,540

he broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made

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00:21:19,540 –> 00:21:20,839

for up to that time,

421

00:21:20,839 –> 00:21:23,579

the Israelites had been burning incense to it,

422

00:21:23,579 –> 00:21:25,859

it was called nahushtan.

423

00:21:27,040 –> 00:21:30,520

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord,

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00:21:30,520 –> 00:21:32,560

the God of Israel.

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00:21:32,560 –> 00:21:36,000

There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah,

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00:21:36,000 –> 00:21:38,560

either before him or after him.

427

00:21:38,579 –> 00:21:42,319

He held fast to the Lord and did not cease to follow him,

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00:21:42,319 –> 00:21:45,119

he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses

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00:21:45,119 –> 00:21:46,640

and the Lord was with him.

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00:21:46,640 –> 00:21:51,479

He was successful in whatever he undertook.

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00:21:52,560 –> 00:21:56,760

Now, here then is a king with an entirely different profile

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00:21:56,760 –> 00:21:59,060

and Micah saw both in his lifetime.

433

00:22:00,680 –> 00:22:03,400

So Micah had quite a life, don’t you think?

434

00:22:05,280 –> 00:22:08,280

He lived through the best of times and the worst of times.

435

00:22:09,479 –> 00:22:14,479

He lived through a moral disaster and a spiritual revival,

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00:22:17,000 –> 00:22:19,119

and it seems to me that that’s precisely

437

00:22:20,400 –> 00:22:23,020

where great encouragement comes for us today.

438

00:22:24,599 –> 00:22:26,479

Well, it’s comforting to know that God

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00:22:26,479 –> 00:22:30,699

can make something great out of even the worst of disaster,

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00:22:30,699 –> 00:22:32,640

whether those are personal

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00:22:32,640 –> 00:22:37,040

or those which affect our whole community or nation.

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00:22:37,079 –> 00:22:38,359

You’re listening to Open the Bible

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00:22:38,359 –> 00:22:41,560

with Pastor Colin Smith and our new series,

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00:22:41,560 –> 00:22:43,479

Close Encounters with the Living God,

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00:22:43,479 –> 00:22:45,599

and the first message in the series,

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00:22:45,599 –> 00:22:47,599

the God who brings revival.

447

00:22:47,599 –> 00:22:49,520

And if you ever miss one of the series

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00:22:49,520 –> 00:22:51,359

or if you want to go back and listen again,

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00:22:51,359 –> 00:22:54,140

you can do that by coming online to our website,

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It’s Pastor Colin’s new book, Flying Through the Bible.

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00:23:48,640 –> 00:23:51,239

Colin, what do you hope that readers of this book

472

00:23:51,239 –> 00:23:53,099

will take away from it?

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00:23:53,099 –> 00:23:56,800

Well the people will see that the whole Bible is one story

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00:23:56,800 –> 00:24:00,140

and that it all points to the Lord Jesus Christ.

475

00:24:00,140 –> 00:24:02,420

You know, I think many folks know some stories

476

00:24:02,420 –> 00:24:04,400

from the Bible, you know David and Goliath,

477

00:24:04,400 –> 00:24:06,680

Jonah and the whale and so forth and so on,

478

00:24:06,680 –> 00:24:09,140

but I find that often people don’t realise

479

00:24:09,140 –> 00:24:12,859

that there really is an overall story line to the Bible.

480

00:24:12,859 –> 00:24:15,400

It begins in a garden, it ends in a city.

481

00:24:15,400 –> 00:24:18,900

All the way through, it’s about the Lord Jesus Christ.

482

00:24:18,900 –> 00:24:22,060

So when a person gets an overview of the Bible,

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00:24:22,060 –> 00:24:24,859

that’s the best way to be introduced

484

00:24:24,859 –> 00:24:27,060

to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

485

00:24:27,060 –> 00:24:29,540

This is going to show you who he is,

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00:24:29,540 –> 00:24:32,219

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487

00:24:32,219 –> 00:24:34,619

what he offers, what he’s able to do

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00:24:34,619 –> 00:24:36,920

in the life of any person who turns to him

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00:24:36,920 –> 00:24:38,500

in repentance and faith.

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00:24:38,500 –> 00:24:40,319

It’s cookies on the bottom shelf

491

00:24:40,319 –> 00:24:41,780

and it’s going to be an introduction

492

00:24:41,780 –> 00:24:43,500

to the Lord Jesus Christ.

493

00:24:43,500 –> 00:24:45,459

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There, you’ll also find plenty of information

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith,

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00:25:08,199 –> 00:25:09,319

I’m David Pick

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00:25:09,319 –> 00:25:12,020

and I hope you’ll be able to join us again very soon.

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00:25:12,020 –> 00:25:18,400

♪

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00:25:18,400 –> 00:25:21,760

Many Christians today are longing for something.

507

00:25:21,760 –> 00:25:25,060

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