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Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do, nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too.

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Imagine all the people living life in peace. Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin

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Smith and Colin it’s not hard to imagine that you might be a Beatles fan.

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I love that song Imagine, or at least, I love the music off it. I’ve got some problems with

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the words of course, but you know it captures the imagination of people, a world of peace imagine

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that. So why don’t we have that, and the answer is that there’s a problem around us we live in

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a fallen world and there’s a problem within us that this seed of what the Bible calls sin,

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this rebellion against God, this inability to live the life even that we desire to live

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that resides within us, and can only be dealt with by Jesus Christ. So I talk in

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the message today about John Lennon, about his son’s testimony, regards to his experience of

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his father. Why is it that this vision of a world of peace always eludes us? Well,

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we’re going to look at that today. Well, grab your Bible if you can, and join us in

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Micah chapter 4 as we begin the message!! The God Who Gathers His Own Community. Here’s Colin.

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Well, last week i had the opportunity of traveling to speak at a conference for pastors in

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California and i find this recurring experience that whenever i walk through an airport

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i am overcome by an overwhelming urge to buy a book which is really rather strange because as

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my wife regularly points out, i am usually carrying a case that is already bulging with

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books that are still to be read but it happens nonetheless and on this trip browsing at the

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stand of new book releases in the airport, i found this one that’s that’s just out,

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it is a new biography of John Lennon of Beatles fame by his first wife Cynthia, complete with

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a foreword by their son Julian. Now i’m now about halfway through at this book which is a

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account of a creative genius with big dreams and great struggles, written by a woman who really

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never stopped loving him. Now one of John Lennon’s best-known songs is called Imagine,

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many will know it well, it paints a picture of life as John and so many others would want it

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to be. Let me read the words to you. Imagine there’s no heaven. It’s easy if you try,

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no hell below us, above us only sky.

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Imagine all the people living for today. Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do,

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nothing to kill or die for and no religion too. Imagine all the people living life in peace.

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Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can, no need for greed or hunger, a brotherhood of man.

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Imagine all the people, sharing all the world.

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Imagine all the people, shared with the world. You may say I’m a dreamer,

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but I’m not the only one. I hope some day you’ll join us and the world will live as one.

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Now that is a powerful dream and that song is loved around the world not only because it has

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but also because it strikes a chord in the hearts of millions of people. Imagine. Imagine.

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Imagine no greed. Imagine no killing. Imagine no hunger.

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Imagine all the people, sharing all the world. It’s a big dream.

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Now, it seems from the words of the song that Lenin thought that that dream would best be

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achieved if there was no hope of heaven and no fear of hell. It would be best achieved,

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he thought, without religion and therefore, presumably, without God. In other words,

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the dream was a dream that was based on a perception of a fundamental goodness in

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the human heart which, if only it could be tapped and released, would bring us

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into a new and better world. Imagine. Imagine. Now, a few months back, PBS broadcast a recording

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and I watched with great pleasure of the Queen Elizabeth’s, I mustn’t say The Queen’s I’m

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sorry, Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee Concert. Queen Elizabeth II has been on the throne

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in England for over 50 years and so to celebrate her Jubilee on the throne, she opened up the

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grounds of Buckingham Palace for a series of open air concerts. Now, the last of these

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concerts was a pop concert with a galaxy of stars from the last 50 years. And the whole

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event, to a packed audience as you can imagine, ended with Paul McCartney and Elton John and

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a host of others leading this vast crowd in the open air ground of Buckingham Palace and

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they were singing the old Beatles song All You Need Is Love. You remember that one?

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Now I found myself thinking when I saw that, what a great tragedy it was that John Lennon

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wasn’t there because, of course, he wrote that song with Paul McCartney. All You Need

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Is Love. And perhaps he would’ve been there if it

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had not been for the deluded fan who gunned him down on the streets of New York. All You

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Need Is Love. All You Need Is Love. The problem is that we live in a world of violence. Well

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getting on the plane and settling down into this book, I, I found myself gripped by the

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first paragraph that I want to read to you. This is from the foreword that is written

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by John Lennon’s son Julian. Listen to this. Growing up as John Lennon’s

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son has been a rocky path. All my life I’ve had people coming up to me and saying I loved

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your dad. I always have very mixed feelings when I hear this. I know that dad was an idol

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to millions who grew up loving his music and his ideals, but to me he wasn’t a musician

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or a peace icon. He was the father I loved and who let me down in so many ways. After

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the age of five when my parents separated I saw him only a handful of times and when

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I did he was often remote and intimidating. I grew up longing for more contact with him

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but felt rejected and unimportant in his life. Dad was a great talent, a remarkable man who

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stood for peace and love in the world. But at the same time he found it very hard to

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show any peace and love to his first family, my mother and me. Imagine. Imagine. There are

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two problems with the dream set out in imagine, there’s a problem around us. Imagine all

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the people living life in peace, but what are you gonna do about the diluted gunmen

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in New York? And then there’s not only the problem around us, there’s the problem within

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us. Imagine all the people living life in peace, but how can a man or a woman hope to

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bring peace and love to the world if he cannot bring peace and love to his own family, his

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own son? See if the dream of true community, the end of war, the end of hunger and peace

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on earth is to be realized, then there has to be a solution to the problem around us

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and the problem within us. That’s why I want you to turn to Micah Chapter Four with me

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today. Because what you’ll find here is a description of peace and love that has some

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things in common with Lennon’s! Imagine, that strikes a chord within the human heart, but

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the way in which it comes about is profoundly different from what is set out in the psalm.

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We have to pause the message briefly just

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there and you’re listening to Open the Bible, with Pastor Colin Smith and a message today

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called, The God Who Gathers His Own Community. It’s part of our series called, Close Encounters

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with the Living God. And, if you have missed any of the series or if you want to go back

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and listen again, you can do that by coming

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online to our website www.openthebible.org.uk.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our

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listeners and this month, if that’s something you’ve been considering doing, we have an

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offer for you. If you can set up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount

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of £5 per month or more during this month, we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy

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of a book by Kevin de Young. It’s called Impossible Christianity. Subtitled, Why Following

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Jesus Does Not Mean You Have to Change the World, Be an Expert in Everything, Accept

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Spiritual Failure and Feel Miserable Pretty Much All of the Time. More details later.

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Back to The Message now, we’re in Micah four. Here’s Colin

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Micah speaks, do you see that in Verse Three, about a day when they will beat their swords

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into plow shares, and their spears into pruning hooks, where nation will not take upsword

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against nation, and nor will they train for war anymore.

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Now look at what Micah’s describing. He is describing total disarmament, something that

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has never ever been seen in the history of the world. We’ve had periods of some disarmament.

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There has never in the history of the world been a total disarmament, but that is what

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Micah is describing here in our terms today. And he’s speaking of the last days, and

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therefore we should think of it in this way. Nuclear missiles decommissioned. Chemical

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weapons eliminated. Surface to air missiles exploded by being sent up into the sky without

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targets in the all time world’s greatest fireworks display. Al Qaeda camps closed.

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Guantanamo Bay emptied. The US military honored, thanked, decommissioned and deployed in civilian

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affairs. Defenge budgets reallocated to seed planting for economic growth and development.

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Imagine! Now of course we find it almost impossible to imagine because the only world you and

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I have ever known is one in which there is hostility and fear and the threat of attack

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and you switch on the news to see what colour the threat level is today. We cannot imagine

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a world in which there is no need for defence, can imagine.

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But Meike speaks of a day when there will be such peace on earth, not just peace that

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comes from the absence of war, but peace that comes from the absence even of the threat

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of war and of hostility. And therefore military budgets and weapons systems will be a fading

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memory from the past. Imagine, quite a dream. Along with this peace in verse four, he makes

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it clear that there will also be security. Look at it. Every man will sit under his own

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vine and under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid.

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Now this is so different of course from the experience of Micah’s hearers that it would

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have been very hard for them to imagine. We saw from chapter three, if you were there

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last week at here last week, you may remember that the powerful land barons were seizing

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land from the poor, driving them off their own land.

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But here there is security from that kind of violence here. Every person is on his own

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land, his own property. His boundaries are secure. Everyone sits under his own fig tree

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and no one makes them afraid. No one makes them afraid. I mean, can you imagine that?

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Can you imagine being able to walk any street in Chicago at any time of day or night without

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fear? Without ever looking over your shoulder or feeling in your pocket to make sure your

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wallet’s still there. No one will make them afraid. Can you imagine

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doing business without any threat of lawsuits? No one will make them afraid. Can you imagine

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going through airports with out detectors because there are no threats? Can you imagine

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turning on the television news in the full confidence that there will not be a story

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of rape or violence, or no reports of any terror attack? No one will make them afraid.

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Not even Satan himself will be able to intimidate God’s people because he’s included with

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no one. They will be beyond the reach even of temptation. Imagine! Every man will sit

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under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid. Peace and security! That’s quite

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a dream. Now, obviously these are very beautiful words

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and wonderful thoughts, and they are lightyears away from the reality of the world in which

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we live. So, the question is, is Micah also a dreamer? Is Micah going to write at the

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end of chapter four, you may say I’m a dreamer but I’m not the only one. I hope someday

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you will join us and the world will live as one.

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Is that what he’s saying?

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No. Look at the end of verse four, will you?

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Here’s his basis for what he writes.

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For the mouth of the Lord almighty has spoken.

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You see, what he’s saying, you need to know that as I write these things that are almost

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beyond what you can imagine.

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I’m not dreaming.

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What I, Micah, am describing here is not some vague hope for a better world.

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It’s not a dream.

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It’s a promise, and it is the promise of almighty God.

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YAHWEH has spoken.

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The mouth of the Lord has spoken this.

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God has said one day nation will not take up sword against nation.

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They will beat their swords into plough shares.

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Every man will sit under his own fig tree and no one will make them afraid.

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That’s the promise of God.

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Now, this obviously raises two questions.

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The first is how in all the world will this ever happen?

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And the second question is, when might we expect to see this happen?

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And so that’s what I want to focus for the rest of our time.

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How, and when?

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How, and when?

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First of all how?

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Look at verse one.

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The mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established.

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Now, whenever you read in the Old Testament about the temple, you need to realize that

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in the Old Testament, the temple was the place of God’s presence.

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This was the place where he said his presence would come down in a particular way on the

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earth.

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Remember God said in Exodus 25 that He would meet his people at the Ark of the Covenant

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and the Ark of the Covenant was placed in the temple, so that when Solomon’s temple

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was built, the presence of God came down and the cloud of the glory of His presence filled

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the temple.

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So when we read about the temple in the Old Testament, we’re talking about the place to

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which God has said he would come.

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And Micah clearly foresees a day when God would visibly come to his temple.

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Verse two, many nations will come and say let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

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to the house of the God of Jacob.

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And he will teach us his ways.

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Who’s the he?

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Obviously God himself.

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This is the Lord himself having come in a visible form to his temple.

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And if God is to come on earth, to a physical place, in a way that is seen and known, he

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must obviously come in some visible form.

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And so Micah is clearly anticipating a day when the Messiah, the Christ, will come to

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the temple in Jerusalem.

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This will be a day when God will draw near.

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His presence and his word will be made known on the earth.

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Now this sounds marvelous but of course it does not answer the question of how there

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will be peace and security.

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We still have the question, well okay the presence of God comes, but how will he deal

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with the deluded gunman, the rapist, the terrorist organization?

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And how will he deal with the broken heart, the abandoned mother, the forlorn son and

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so forth.

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Now Micah answers these questions about what will happen when the presence of the Lord

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comes with four simple statements that I want us to get hold, these are the statements that

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bring us from dreams to reality and from vague hopes to solid promises.

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Number one, God will judge.

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We find this both in verse 3 and in verses 11 and 12.

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Let’s look at both.

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Verse 3, he will judge between many peoples.

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Now this is telling us that God will resolve disputes among his own people.

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So many disputes even among God’s people never get resolved, but here, Christ will resolve

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them.

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That’s what God will do for his people.

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It’s a wonderful thing, and Micah also tells us not only that he will bring the reconciliation

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of disputes among his people, but he will also bring judgment towards his enemies.

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Look at verse 11.

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But now many nations are gathered against you.

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That’s against Israel.

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They say verse 11 let her be defiled and their eyes gloat over Zion.

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Verse 12, they do not know the thoughts of the Lord.

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They do not understand his plan.

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He who gathers them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

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So what this is saying is that when the presence of God comes, he will not only bring reconciliation

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to his people, but he will bring judgment to his enemies.

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Second, he will gather.

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He will judge, but he will gather.

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Verse six, I will gather the lame.

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I will assemble the exiles.

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So here’s the beauty.

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Those who come under the ultimate judgment of God are those who continue to the end to

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shake their fist at him.

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But for all who will come, his arms are outstretched, and he says, I will gather.

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Third, he rules.

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He rules.

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God will rule.

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Verse seven, the Lord will rule over them in Mount Zion.

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Now, here’s something wonderful.

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When you become one of Christ’s flock, you submit to your life to his rule, that’s what

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it means to come to him.

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When he says, come to me you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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He immediately goes on to say what?

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Take my yoke upon you.

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And learn of me.

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Because he gathers, he also rules.

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And then verse 10, God will redeem.

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God will redeem.

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Verse 10, you will go to Babylon.

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There, you will be rescued.

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There, the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.

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So now here’s the how.

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Here is how God fulfills his promise.

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Micah says he’ll judge, he’ll gather, he’ll rule,

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and he’ll redeem.

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What a wonderful promise that is.

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We don’t know when, but someday, God

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is going to bring about peace and prosperity to this world.

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You’re listening to OPEN the Bible with pastor Colin Smith

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on a message today called, The God

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Who Gathers His Own Community.

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If you tuned in late or if you ever

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miss one of our broadcasts, you can always catch up online.

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Go back and listen again.

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That’s at openthebible.org.uk.

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Or you can find us as a podcast, and those

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are available on all the major podcasting sites

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by searching for openthebibleuk, or by following

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the link on our website.

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Also available on our website and available as a podcast

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is Open the Bible daily, and that’s

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a series of short, two to three minute daily reflections

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based on Pastor Colin’s teaching and read

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in the UK by Sue MacLeish.

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There is a fresh one every day,

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and so it’s a great way to start the day.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners.

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That’s people just like you, and if that’s something

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you’re considering doing, this month we have an offer for.

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If you’re able to set up a new donation

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00:23:24,719 –> 00:23:26,180

to the work of Open the Bible

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in the amount of five pounds per month or more,

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we’d love to thank you by sending you a copy

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of Kevin de Young’s book, Impossible Christianity.

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Colin, what would you hope that someone reading this book

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will take away from it?

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Well, Kevin de Young does a brilliant job

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of distinguishing between the life that God calls us to lead

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and the sometimes impossible burdens

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that we place on ourself, and that’s why it’s such a helpful

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and such a liberating book.

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For example, when he talks about prayer,

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he talks about the importance of prayer,

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and anyone who really walks with the Lord knows that.

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We often feel that we need to pray more.

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We can live under a burden of saying,

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have I ever prayed enough and have I ever prayed

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as sincerely and deeply as I ought?

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And we end up putting burdens on ourselves

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that can easily make following Christ

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feel like a joyless experience.

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And so I found Impossible Christianity

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to be really helpful in just restoring

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a sense of perspective,

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a sense of peace to the soul.

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And it’s right out of the scriptures.

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It’s faithful to what God says

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but it brings to us a sense of a life

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that is made possible by the grace of God

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as we follow hard after the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Well we’d love to send you a copy of Kevin de Young’s book

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to say thank you for setting up a new donation

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00:24:50,979 –> 00:24:52,760

to the work of Open The Bible

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00:24:52,760 –> 00:24:55,500

in the amount of £5 per month or more.

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00:24:56,420 –> 00:24:58,699

Full details of this offer are on our website,

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openthebible.org.uk.

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith,

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I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able

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to join us again next time.

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With all the problems in the world,

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where can we find peace and security?

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Find out next time on Open the Bible.