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When you come to the place of admitting that there are problems in your life, in your character

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and in your family that only God can solve. When you come to that place you have just

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taken the first step towards real Christian faith.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I am David Pick.

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Many of us can look back and say, I came to Jesus when there were big problems in my life.

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Well, I thought after that everything was going to be fine.

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But then years later you have something really bad happen and you feel God isn’t there.

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We often quote the story of Jonah, who gets into a storm because he runs away from God in

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disobedience. But what about the disciples who get into a storm, because Jesus tells them

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to go across the other side of the lake.

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So, I mean, there are challenges that come to a Christian’s life,

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precisely as we are following the Lord Jesus.

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There’s a faithful Christian and you’re struggling with something.

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You don’t even have the sense of God’s nearness.

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It’s as if He hides himself, and that’s what we’re looking at in the scripture today.

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What do you do as a Christian when it seems that God is hiding Himself like in a dark cloud and

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when you pray and you don’t even have a sense as to whether He’s hearing or answering?

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Well, it’s such good news that the Bible actually addresses this.

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Tells us, this is going to be part of your experience,

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and here’s what you do.

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I mean, you can’t just tell, hey, God come out of hiding,

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but you do watch and you do wait and you do put your hope in God,

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even when He feels far away.

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So I am praying that today’s message will be helpful for a Christian in a dark place

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who needs to know what do I do when it seems that God is hiding Himself from me.

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Let’s open our Bibles, if we can to Micah in chapter 7,

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as we continue the message, The God who hides himself.

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Here’s Colin.

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What are we to do in a situation where the root problem is that

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we can’t see what God is doing.

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Now, as to things, first, in that situation it’s time to watch and to wait.

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That’s what Micah does.

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Look at verse 7.

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As for me, I watch in hope of the Lord.

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I wait for God my savior.

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And this is the commitment of a godly man.

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He asked me what God’s doing right now.

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And he’s a prophet, he can’t give the answer.

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He says, this is what I will do, I will watch and I will wait.

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The good news, of course, is that God’s hiding is never final.

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Remember, the whole cosmos is moving towards the day when God will not be hidden,

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but his glory will be revealed.

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All life moves in that direction.

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God may be hidden now, but he is not absent.

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God may seem far away from you, but he is always at work.

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Micah knows that God is there, and that is why he watches and he waits.

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Fishermen know about this.

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You don’t see the fish, but you know they are there.

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So you put your line in the water, and what do you do?

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You watch, and you wait, and you wait expectantly.

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God may hide his face from you for a time, but not forever.

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You may find yourself in great darkness through a sudden trauma.

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Watch to see what God will do.

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Watch what he does in your own heart, because even when he is hidden, he is working

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Watch what he does in people around you.

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Watch what he does among other believers.

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And wait.

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Wait, because while God’s purpose often takes us through darkness, it never leaves us in darkness.

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It never ends there.

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I tend to think too often of waiting as just being something I’ve got to endure in order

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to get what I want.

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But you see, in the Bible waiting is very, very different.

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Waiting in the Bible is the way in which we grow when we do not yet have what we desire.

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And you know there are gems of God’s grace that can only be mined in the darker places

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of life.

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So, if he leads you through some dark and hard places, if that is where you find yourself

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right now, determine that you will not come out of this empty handed.

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Watch.

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Wait.

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God is at work even when he is hidden.

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God’s promises to you are as good in the darkness as they are in the light.

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God’s promises to you are as good in the darkness as they are in the light and that is why Micah

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can say in verse 8,

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Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

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Some of us can lay hold of that today.

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Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.

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Don’t ever forget that God’s greatest ever work in all human history was done in total

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darkness, during three hours when Jesus hung on the cross and in this moment nobody in

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the world and probably no one even in heaven apart from God himself could see what God

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was doing in these hours of awful darkness.

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If ever there was a moment where it seemed that God was hiding it was as Jesus was hanging

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on the cross,

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and he said, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

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But you know it was right there that the gates of hell were splintered and the path to heaven

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was wide open.

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God does his greatest work in the darkest places so watch and wait.

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And then here’s the second thing we’re to do in these circumstances of life and it’s

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very simple and very powerful and it’s in verse nine.

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Put your hope in the Gospel.

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Watch and wait and put your hope in the Gospel.

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Now Micah of course lived about 700 years before the birth of Jesus when the Gospel

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or the Good News was revealed but in the New Testament, remember it says that the prophets

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and that includes Micah spoke about things that have now been revealed through those

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who preach the Gospel.

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That’s what Peter says in his letter and I think this is a wonderful example of the prophets

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before the coming of Jesus speaking of the hope.

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The hope that they held even then that was fulfilled and revealed in Jesus.

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Look at what Micah says here in verse nine.

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Until he pleds my case and establishes my right.

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Now you see what he is saying.

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I look around the chaos of my generation and honestly as I look at the big picture it seems

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that we are more under God’s judgement than we are under his blessing.

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Our culture is falling apart.

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Families are breaking up.

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God is hiding his face from us.

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We have sinned and we are under the wrath of God.

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Now where do you go from there?

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You see look where Micah goes.

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See Micah’s hope in the darkness is that this God whose judgement we deserve, whose

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judgement we have brought upon ourselves by the paths we have chosen, that this God will

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look upon us in mercy and take up our case.

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That somehow Micah hopes, prays, believes, that God will come and will stand with us,

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that he’ll be for us and not against us, that God Himself will somehow take up and

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plead the case of His own people, that’s the only hope I can see, says Micah and he is

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speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

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Can you imagine God pleading your case?

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Wow, this man lacks godly character.

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This woman is full of self-interest.

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This believer is at odds with members of his own household but I plead his or her case.

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You see, our hope is that God should plead our case.

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That God who stands over us should come and stand with us and should do for us what we

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cannot do for ourselves.

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That is the gospel.

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That is precisely what God has done for us and will do for any who will come to Him in

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Jesus Christ.

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That is what we will celebrate again at Christmas – that God came down among us in Jesus Christ,

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that he came and he took his stand with us, that the wrath of God, which we deserve, was

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poured out upon Jesus when he died on the cross, and that Jesus rose on the third day,

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ascended into heaven and that he stands at the right hand of the Father to do what?

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To plead your case and mine.’

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You know what Micah’s hope is for restoring families?

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You know what Micah’s hope is for the reformation of character?

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You know what Micah’s hope is for the breaking of self interest so that a community of people

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will begin to look outward rather than inward?

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Micah’s hope’s in the gospel.

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He’s not looking for a new program, he’s not looking for a new set of techniques to make

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this happen, he’s not starting a new movement he’s looking to the gospel.

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He knows that apart from the help of God there’s no other way that these issues will ever change,

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no other way that the culture will change direction and he’s placing all his confidence

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in the one who will come, whose name is Jesus.

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Now I have to ask you is that where you are?

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Is that where you would place your confidence on these great issues that face us?

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Is that what you see as being the hope of the culture, of the nation, of the church?

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Is that what you see as being an answer to this question?

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Because I know of no other answer.

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See this is where the Apostle Paul took his stand,

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I am not ashamed of the gospel

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because it is the power of God for the salvation

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of those who believe.

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You are listening to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith

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and our message today The God Who Hides Himself

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is part of our series Close Encounters with the Living God

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and if you have missed any of the series or if you want to get back and listen again

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you can always do that by coming online to our website

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openthebible.org.uk

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There you can hear any of the messages which have already gone out on air

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and you can also find us as a podcast

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on your favorite podcast site or by following a link on our website

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and those are obtainable on all the major podcasting sites

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Back to the message now

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We’re in Micah chapter 7

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Here’s Colin

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You know I felt privileged to have the opportunity of speaking to groups of pastors

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around the country over these last months

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And the message that has been laid on my heart to share with other church leaders

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has been to sound a trumpet for recovering out confidence in the life changing power of the Gospel

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I have lost count of the number of other pastors who’ve come and I’ve said with the greatest warm

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thank you so much for saying that because that’s what I believe, but it’s not what we hear

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You see we say we believe the Gospel

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But then set out on some endless search for something else that’s supposedly going to

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bring what we call real-life change

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What do you think will bring real life change to a man, or a woman, or a father, or a mother,

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or a son, or a daughter, or a student, a high schooler, a business professional, a sex addict,

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a person who was never loved, a student who has no direction, write the list

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What do you think will bring real life change?

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Well I tell you, I’m with Micah and with the Apostle Paul

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Real-life change comes as you are deeply immersed in the Word of God that brings you to the

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cross of Christ, by which we are increasingly transformed by the power of the Spirit who

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builds character into our lives as we walk with Him so that the old flesh life, and its

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fruits will become less as Jesus Christ becomes more. That’s how it happens, and it works.

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It has worked in every culture, in every generation, where it has been faithfully pursued.

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By the way, this isn’t just talk. In the book Ronald Cider quotes George Barna, who

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has done so many surveys—and one in particular, on what he calls a Biblical worldview.

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Now what that means—I know it sounds a little complicated, though some are familiar with

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the phrase—it really means that you’ve grasped enough of the Bible to make a difference

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to the way you think and the choices that you make. That’s basically what he’s talking

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about.

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Now here’s the staggering statistic, that amongst those who claim the phrase born-again,

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Christopher Noah found in his research that only 9%, 9% of all born-again adults have

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a biblical worldview—9%—and only 2% of born-again teenagers—that’s teenagers

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who claim to be born-again, only 2%—have enough Bible in them, by their own response

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to these survey questions to influence the way they think and the way they choose.

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Quoting these statistics Cider says with I think understatement, that is bad news. You

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think that’s an understatement? That is bad news. If that’s true, or anywhere

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near true, it is hardly surprising that Christians are living just like the rest of the world.

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Right? Because all we’ve got is a religious veneer over an unchanged life. If that’s true.

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No wonder we’re seeing the loss of character, the rise of self-interest, the breakdown of

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family life even in the church. Right? You want the good news? Say you want the good

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news. The good news, I’m quoting, is that the small circle of people with a Biblical

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worldview demonstrate genuinely different behavior. Genuinely different behavior. Listen

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to this. They are, that is those who have enough Bible in them to begin to change the

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way they think and choose. They are nine times more likely than all others to avoid adding

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adult-only material on the Internet. Nine times. He makes a difference. They are four

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times more likely to boycott objectionable companies and products, three times more likely

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than other adults not to use tobacco products. Twice as likely to volunteer time to help

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needy people. In fact, forty-nine percent of all born-again Christians with a Biblical

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worldview have volunteered more than an hour in the previous week in an organization to

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serve the poor. Whereas only twenty-nine percent of those claiming to be born again but without

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a Biblical worldview do so, and only twenty-two percent of those Christians who would not

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own the phrase born again do so. In other words, what he’s saying is it’s going to

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change the community. There’s a direct correlation between the penetration of the Scripture

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into a person’s life and the amount of time that they give to volunteering to serve the

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poor and the needy. It changes the community. See the fruit flows from the root, and you

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can’t change the bad fruit, unless you change the bad root. Do you see what this is telling

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us? Do you see what this is telling us? How can we have less men hooked on pornography

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by having more men who are immersed in the scriptures? How can we have less breakdown

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in family life over the next ten years by having more families gather together in worship

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and around the Word? How will we motivate more people to go out and to serve the poor

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and the needy in our community? It will happen as we’re more captivated by the love of Christ

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so that we’re ready to place all other agendas on the altar of God. The way it’s going to

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happen is as the power of the Gospel flows through every dimension of our life and our

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ministry. You see the Gospel is like blood in the body, it carries life, it carries power

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so that it begins to go to every place in the body otherwise if it doesn’t go, that

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part of the body can’t function. It’s the lifeblood of the body of Christ, the Gospel.

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That is why our vision is for a Church more deeply shaped by the Bible, a community more

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deeply changed by the Cross, and a ministry more intentionally reaching the world.

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The joy of being part of the Moody Pastors Conference this year and in the end of the

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Moody Pastors Conference with Tony Evans preaching. Oh, that was magnificent. To sit in the front

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row, right below Tony Evans preaching, I’ll tell ya, is something else. I wish I could

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even imitate the man. I think that he is absolutely marvelous.

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Tony Evans in his message to us got going on the subject of popcorn. How does popcorn

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pop? That’s a great Tony Evans question, right? And he says, you know, a lot of people don’t

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know why popcorn pops. You see, there’s a hard shell on the outside, and you can’t break

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it. I was gonna bring some popcorn in and try

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and chew on it a little bit. And I thought, I don’t want the kids to copy that. My dentist

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in the congregation, he won’t like it. Well, what happens? You put the popcorn in

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the microwave, right? And there is moisture in there, and as it goes in the microwave,

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the steam is heated, it expands and what happens? The pressure of what’s going on on the inside

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is more than the strength of the hard shell on the outside. The hard shell cannot bear

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what it is going on in the inside, and so in the end, it pops, right? And then you can’t

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even find the shell afterwards. Now you see, that is how God changes a man, not from the

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outside in, but from the inside out. That’s how the gospel works. Some of us are frustrated

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to death because what we’re trying to do is to change things by chewing on the hard grain

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and all we’re doing is we’re breaking our teeth. There are so many problems in life

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that end up being changed

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not by addressing them directly, but by changing the root so

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you change the fruit. Some of us need to get into the microwave, right? The microwave of

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the gospel, the microwave of the word of God, the microwave of the love of Christ, the microwave

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of God’s Holy Spirit. The spirit of Christ.

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God uses the word of God which brings us to the son of God who changes people’s lives.

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That’s how the fruit of godly character can begin to grow in you. That’s how you can become

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less selfish, and more caring about others. That’s how the church gets turned outward

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rather than inward.

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That’s how the foundation of stable families and stable relationships is laid, and that

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will change our world.

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When it feels like God is hiding, perhaps we should search for him. That’s one of the

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important truths and encouragements in today’s message.

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You’ve been listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message today The

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God Who Hides Himself.

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It’s part of our larger series, Close Encounters with the Living God, and if you’ve missed

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any of the series to date, or maybe you want to go back and listen again, you can do that

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by coming online to our website, OpenTheBible.org.uk, where you can find all of the messages which

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have already gone out on air.

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You’ll also find a great many other resources for encouragement and study.

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You’ll find that our website, OpenTheBible.org.uk is updated every day with the previous day’s

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message.

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Also on the website, you’ll be able to find Open The Bible Daily, and that’s updated

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daily, as well.

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Every day, there’s a new 2-3 minute reflection based on Pastor Colin’s teaching, and read

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in the UK by Sue Macleish.

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Many Christians find it’s a great way to start the day.

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Many people now use podcasts, and that’s available too, both for the messages and Open

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the Bible Daily.

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So if you prefer to listen to a podcast rather than going on our website, you can search

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on any of the major podcasting sites for Open the Bible Daily

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daily.

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and then you can subscribe to receive regular updates.

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Open the Bible is supported entirely by the generosity of our listeners, and we want to

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thank you for supporting our ministry in that way.

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If you haven’t previously supported Open the Bible, but you’d like to begin doing

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so, we’d like to thank you by sending you a copy of Kevin de Young’s book Impossible

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Christianity.

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Colin, how did the book help you?

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Well, it brought a fresh sense of peace to my soul.

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The problem is that sometimes we put burdens on ourselves that God never intended us to

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carry.

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We all know that we never do anything perfectly, and that none of us is perfect.

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But what we can lose sight off is that it is actually possible to live a life that is

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pleasing to God, and that acts of faith and hope and love really are pleasing to him.

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And Kevin de Young brings this out in a beautiful way that I think will bring a sense of relief

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to the souls of many people who read this book, and that’s why I’m really excited that

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we’re able to share it this month.

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It was immensely helpful to me, and I think that it will be immensely helpful to everyone

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who reads it, especially people who have a tendency to put too great burdens on themselves.

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Well we want to send you a copy of this book, Impossible Christianity, by Kevin de Young,

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as a way of saying thank you for your financial support this month.

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If you’re able to set up a new payment of five pounds per month, or more, to the work

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of Open the Bible, we’d love to send you this book.

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Full details of this are on our website and you can give online.

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For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick, and I hope we’ll see you again

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next time.